M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) of 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron (1APC Sqn), ...

M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) of 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron (1APC Sqn), Royal Australian Armoured Corps and gunners from 161 Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery (RNZA), on a battery reconnaissance mission during Operation Ingham. Contact was made with the Viet Cong somewhere in the tree line (background) and the New Zealand officer is in the process of directing artillery fire into the area. Identified from left: 213099 Ronald Edward (Ron) Richards vehicle commander, 1APC Sqn; unidentified Australian vehicle commander (background), 1APC Sqn; Lieutenant Barry D Dreyer and his signaller, Gunner William (Bill) Skedgwell, both of 161 Battery, RNZA. The New Zealand L5 Pack Howitzers were deployed to a forward area in Phuoc Tuy Province in order to protect 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), infantry patrols which were patrolling beyond the range of the guns based at Nui Dat. The APC (background) has been fitted with an M74C turret equipped with two .30 calibre L3A3 Browning medium machine guns while the APC (foreground) is armed with a .50 calibre M2 HB Browning heavy machine gun protected by a steel shield constructed from 12.7 mm (half inch) armour plate. These steel shields with the rounded corners were informally known as elephant ears and were usually fabricated by Australian Engineering workshops at Nui Dat.