Peter Norman Tedder as a Major 105 Field Battery Australian Artillery interviewed by Greg Swanborough for 'The sharp end'

Roll 19 Scene 19 take 1; his activities on the day of the battle of Long Tan; he never met circumstances that the Viet Cong were going to fight within the range of artillery and that this indicated that the Viet Cong would attack the Company or Task Force; Take 2; he thought that this would be a big battle and raced back to his battery; set out radios and started to listening to what was happening; take 3 background to 105 Field Battery; in the eleven and one half months he served with four different formations include United States units; 105 Battery won acclaim as one of the only air portable artillery units; US curiosity with the battery’s Italian L5 105mm pack howitzers; by the time of Long Tan 105 Battery was a very experienced unit; artillery available at Long Tan were eighteen L5 pack howitzers plus four 155mm guns of A Battery from the US 35 Artillery Battalion; battle was fought outside the range of the Battalion’s mortars only support 6RAR’s D Coy commander Harry Smith could rely upon was artillery and air support; there was only one air strike as Harry Smith didn’t want any let up in the artillery fire since the enemy were so close; Take 4 re take of take 3; Take 5. continuous fire every 10 to 20 seconds ; there would be eight hundred pounds of high explosive every 10 to 20 seconds; monsoon thunderstorms made it dark and muddy; enormous amount of cordite smoke produce by the continuous fire; though of relieving the gunners due to them choking on the smoke; only a small amount of the ammunition was unboxed; some of the boxes from the Korean war days; every one was giving a hand even the cooks; Take 6. firing from continuously from 4.00 in the afternoon to 7.00 in the evening until the relief column of APCs arrived; Take 7. the arrival of the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) with a Company of infantry and how this affected the gun fire; started to fire on likely Viet Cong withdrawal routes through the nights; during the battle Tedder was flicking between wireless nets to build up a picture of what was happening; remembering Vietnam as separation from friends and family and the comradeship that developed in the Battery which still exist today; formative experience being a mature artillery officer and the gunners were 19- 20 year old kids; believes their youth got them through.