A GRUNTS VIEW |
||
A Diggers viewpoint of being at the sharp end. Gained while serving with 3 Platoon - 'A' Company -7 Battlion (Infantry) Royal Australian Regiment, as a Rifleman in Australia's longest ever war - fought in South Vietnam. Chapter 4 - Page 19 - Updated January 2007 - Next Page:- Mine Incident 20/35 |
||
Night Patrol with Mine Dectors in to Enemy Held area. LONG HAI MOUNTAINS - MY BIRTHDAY - SEPTEMBER 1970 |
---|
Site Index
|
|
DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SITE This is the first story I ever wrote on my experiences in Vietnam. It appeared in the Military Magazine Australian & NZ Defender in June 1999. When I sat down to write it, I found that the words and images just poured out and on to the key board of the computer. I have little written notes of my time in Vietnam except perhaps in a few letters from myself to my Wife. This story gave me the idea and some hope I could commit my tour of Vietnam to print. So it eventually became the very first page and the start of this Homepage. Although some of my stories have been 'cleaned up' that is spelling corrected and slight changes to the text, like taking out Army speak and replacing it with english, this story remains very much as I wrote it that first day. |
THE WHISTLE "WEEEEEEEEEE" I distinctly heard an answering whistle. It had come from the bush to the left of the track, but maybe 10/12 yards forward of our position. The lead Ginger Beer swung around with an astonished look on his face. Sergeant King hit him on the shoulder and pointed to a small open space on our right and swung his arm around in a circle. The track went under a couple of trees that formed a 'archway' over the track and the sound had come from within the bush on the left. The Engineer moved forward, and then chucked a right turn, we followed in his track. He desperately attempted to clear as much of the open area as he could, with the detector. if we triggered a mine here it would be absolute chaos. Sgt. King pulled and pushed the rest of us into position. There was no time to give the enemy signal, 'thumbs down'. Doubtful if anyone could see it anyway, in the light/darkness we had. However the urgency transmitted it's self to the rest of the patrol and we were all down on the ground in a matter of a seconds. But in NO recognised formation. If they caught us here we would be in deep shit. The area was no bigger than a cricket pitch, relatively soft bush grass, surrounded by thick dense scrub. The only way out was by the track, either the way we had come, or forward towards the 'whistler'. As we were lying close to each other a few whispers asked, "what the hell is going on?" With the Diggers close to me I could tell them about some one giving a whistle from the trees. A few moved to bring their weapons to bear to our left flank. They could not fire as Sergeant King was still on our left on the track, he had not moved. Sergeant King had seen action against the Indonesians and this was his second tour of Vietnam and it showed. He was armed with an M16 automatic rifle. With hand signals he directed a Digger, also with an M16 to move to him. As it was not totally dark we could see them move forward towards the place of the 'whistler'. Who ever it was, they might be wondering the reason for the holdup. It was well known that the Viet Cong communicated with 'whistle signals'. At least on the radio, so with any luck they might not think that Australians would be crazy enough to be walking on the Long Hais AT NIGHT! Separated only by the width of the narrow track, King on the left the other Digger on the right. With no detector it could have been deadly. I thought it was one of the gustiest actions I had seen. Both had automatic weapons. Both men moved forward, a step at a time, they used the high step, it looks a little comical, but no one was laughing. I don't know who fired first, but next second both of them poured a full magazine of 5.56 rounds into the area. Ejecting the empty mag and slapping a second one on the weapon, they opened fire. Within a few seconds four magazines of 80 rounds had hit the area. Still on their feet both men had sprayed forward into the area on the left of the track. What had they seen or heard? We could do nothing but keep our heads down in case of return fire. Thinking about it later I was amazed at the discipline exhibited by the other Diggers, no wild shooting or any calling out, only the patrol radio operator was talking. He carried the platoon's 25 sig set, our life line to the Battalion. |
CONTACT WAIT OUT "Three Zero Alfa, Contact Wait Out". The sig let Company Head Quarters, (CHQ) into the picture. We might be in the shit now and if we needed help, they would be ready to give it to us. Have you ever heard the sound of something bashing through the scrub without worrying how much noise they were making? Well we heard it then and I can remember feeling very pleased. It sounded like a couple of people and if it was Viet Cong, who the hell else would it be, they knew artillery fire would be on its way. They were running for their very lives. "Anybody got spigot grenades?" the Ginger Beer wanted to know. "Yes me" I said. I had taken part in a support weapons course in Australia, so now, a chance to fire the bloody things, after carrying them for months. Quickly I cleared the SLR, and made it safe. I was very careful about that after I had heard a story that someone had fired a spigot grenade from an SLR, without taking the ball cartridge out of the weapon. Nasty. I chambered a ballastite cartridge, this would provide the propulsion for the spigot grenade. Positioning the angle of the muzzle to fire through the gap in the trees, and hopefully in front of the sounds of the VC scrub bashing, the Ginger Beer took the grenade off me & placed it over the muzzle, "fire" I pulled the trigger, Bang, off it went! Quickly I placed another cartridge in to the breach and placed the butt on the ground. "Fire", the grenade arched up and over the trees. In all we shot off four grenades. We strained to hear the 'Bang' of the grenades. Unlike the movies, grenades do not explode in a ball of fire. The M26 grenades are fragmentation grenades. A length of wire, serrated, that is 'cut part way through' is wrapped around an explosive. The wire shreds, along with the casing of the grenade, and the effect is designed to kill or cause very nasty injuries. Excitement over for now, we admired the 'pop sshhhh' of the artillery rounds arriving overhead. As they broke open to give us light. A very bright yellow light, on the area with 'para flares'. Only thing you have to worry about is the canister. It has to go somewhere. Hopefully it will not decide to fall in your area. Australian Gunners work over time when you need help and these flares were 'right on target'. Popping overhead and thus the canisters would drop away from us. Sgt King and the other Digger rejoined us, what were we going to next? I put a magazine back on the SLR and put a round up the spout. I was more interested in getting as much water down me as possible. Despite being night time, it was bloody warm and I needed a drink. I ripped out a water bottle and poured the water down my throat taking great gulps of it. Nearly choking, as it over flowed out of my month and on to my neck and shirt. Surely Father would pull us out now? Not much point going in now that they know we are here. I was thinking! Sgt King was taking to 'Father' on the radio. I was willing him to pull us out. Yet I could just hear 'Fathers' modulated pommy tone over the handset, "Yes I think we can proceed with the ambush plan". That was that then! A few more days on the Hais. I instantly regretted the amount of water I had used. The last flare fizzled out and darkness soon returned to the area. We waited a while to allow our night vision to re-establish, and for a few fast beating hearts to slow down, mine included. On a signal we started to shake out in to patrol formation. With the Ginger Beers leading, we formed up again and started moving. At first we moved under trees making the 'archway'. I tried to look in to the area to see if there was a sentry point but it was too dark. Looking back towards the other Diggers along the track I wanted to see what the nogs had seen? Although you could see shapes it was not possible to see if there were friend or foe. Perhaps this had saved us from a burst of AK47 fire? After that we seemed to move up the feature slightly, then across the mountains. |
FOOTNOTE A mine field was laid from Horse Shoe down to the sea. A distance of many miles. This mine field ignored the rules of war. It was never covered by fire or watched by the local South Vietnamese Forces who had neither the skills, number of men or the interest to do so. The result of which the VC. 'lifted' and removed many hundreds of the mines and used them against Australian Forces. Many of the Battalions including 7RAR, suffered many casualties because of the damn things. The Vietnam Veteran Federation based at Granville NSW are working on a project that will tell the story of the mine field. The mine that 3 Platoon patrol detonated was near to a small stream; after a night ambush we were returning to NDP Brigid. For full Story & Photos; see page:- Mine Incident Page 20 |
[bunker battle 18] [night move - long hais 19] [mine incident 20] [ambushing the australian way 21] [Sky Images] |
Copyright (c) 2004-2007 Grunts View. All rights reserved ucdailoi@hotmail.com