Records of the Australian Army Assistance Group Vietnam (AAAGV)

Function and provenance

Australia’s military involvement in the war in Vietnam lasted from 1962 to 1973. The initial commitment in July and August 1962 consisted of a group of 30 instructors from the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) who assisted United States Army advisors in training Republic of Vietnam (RVN) ground forces in jungle warfare, village defence and related activities. This was followed by a detachment of six Caribou aircraft with requisite flying and maintenance personnel in 1964 and an Army battalion, the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR), and supporting logistical services in 1965. Command of these forces was exercised by Headquarters Australian Army Force Vietnam (HQ AAFV).

In March 1966 Cabinet increased Australia’s commitment in Vietnam to a Task Force consisting of two infantry battalions, an artillery regiment, an armoured squadron, a cavalry squadron and other supporting arms and services. The force known as 1 Australian Task Force (1ATF) was based at Nui Dat in PhuocTuyProvince, east of Saigon. The first two battalions to join the Task Force were 5 RAR and 6 RAR. A civil affairs unit was added to 1ATF in March 1967 to carry out and coordinate a vast range of construction, resettlement, medical and dental, education and welfare activities for the civil population of Phuoc Tuy. In December 1967, 1 ATF was augmented by a third RAR battalion and a squadron of Centurion tanks in February 1968.

By the end of 1969 growing opposition to the war in Australia forced the government to announce a withdrawal of forces. In November 1970, 8 RAR was withdrawn and not replaced. 1 ATF began withdrawing from Phuoc Tuy between late October and early December 1971 as part of ‘Operation Interfuse’. At the request of the governments of the Republic of Vietnam and Cambodia and following consultations with the United States government, the Australian government agreed to retain training and advisory elements in Vietnam after the withdrawal of the Australian Force Vietnam.

A residual force known as the Australian Army Assistance Group Vietnam (AAAGV) with a strength of around 150 personnel was established and took over command from Australian Force Vietnam (AFV) on 6 March 1972. It comprised a headquarters unit, an Australian Army Training Team and 198 Works Section, Royal Australian Engineers (198 Wks Sect, RAE) and was under the operational control of the Commander, United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (COMUSMACV).

The headquarters unit which was stationed in Saigon undertook the following tasks:

provided command, communications and administrative support to AATTV and 198 Works Section
provided guards and escorts for its own protection as well as the Australian Embassy and the Ambassador’s residence
gained practical experience in surveillance techniques through the Army Surveillance Officer attached to HQ AAGV
maintained liaison with United States Military Assistance Command Vietnam (USMACV )
discharged the duties of the capturing authority in regard to prisoners of war in South Vietnam

The AATTV which was located in PhuocTuyProvince undertook the following tasks:

assisted in training at the Jungle Warfare Training Centre, Van Kiep
provided advisory and training assistance to the Territorial Forces in Phuoc Tuy
provided instructors for the training of Forces Armées Nationales Khmer (FANK) personnel within the framework of the United Sates training establishments in Phuoc Tuy

198 Works Section supervised the construction of the Vietnamese Jungle Warfare Training Centre at Van Kiep.

Following the defeat of the Liberal-Country Party government on the 2 December 1972, the new Labor Party government, led by Gough Whitlam, announced the withdrawal of all Australian troops from South Vietnam by 18 December 1972. Most of the AAAGV left on this date with the Australian Embassy Guard Platoon remaining in Saigon until June 1973.

Content

The records of the Australian Army Assistance Group were amongst the first major transfer of records from the Department of Defence to the Australian War Memorial relating to the Vietnam War which occurred between November 1981 and March 1982. This consignment was accessioned as OW82/11. They formed part of a large series which was designated as AWM100 in the mid 1980s when the Memorial adopted its new numbering system.

The registry cards which controlled this series of records were transferred in February 1982, accessioned as OW82/20 and later designated AWM104.

From 1999 Official Records staff removed subseries from AWM100, and registered each of them as a separate series of records. The records of the Australian Army Assistance Group were added to the RecordSearch database in March 1999 and the series was redesignated AWM276

The Australian Army Assistance Group created its files to document its activities, to record events and to enable efficient retrieval for future reference. The files in this series include the following categories: amenities, compensation, diary letters, diary signals, establishment, honours and awards, motor vehicles, newspapers and periodicals, organisation, prisoners of war, reports, residual force and stores and equipment.

It should be noted that upon the activation of AAAGV in March 1972 they took possession of many files which were previously created by AFV. Persons who wish to find all of the records created by AFV on a particular matter should search in both AWM98 and AWM276.

System of arrangement and control

The records in this series consist of registered and non registered files.

Registered files

Registered items have a three-part item number conforming with the Department ofthe Army registry classification of correspondence catalogue. The first number represents the primary topic of the item, the second and third numbers refine the topic further.

The registered files are controlled by a card index, AWM104. This index is also the control series for other records relating to the Vietnam War including AWM98, AWM116 and AWM100. Researchers should note that most of the unit records previously allocated to series AWM100 had been removed from that series and allocated their own series number by the end of 2004.

Most of the registered files in this series were first created by AFV and then transferred to AAAGV when it was activated in March 1972. They are correctly part of this series AWM276 rather than AWM98 as AAAGV is the last headquarters they were used at operationally.

Non registered files

Non registered files (not having registered item numbers) have been given imposed numbers by the Memorial. A two number control system has been used where the primary number relates to a section within HQ AATV. They are:

1/-: Officer of the Commander – incorporating the Commander (ComD) and those directly under him, including the Deputy Assistant Adjutant (DAA), the Quarter Master general (QMG) and the Regimental Sergeant-Major (RSM)


2/-: General Staff Officer 3 (GSO3)


3/-: Staff Captain A (SCA)


4/-: Quarter master (QM)


5/-: Miscellaneous correspondence

Secondary numbers have been allocated serially with some of them being given part numbers.

• AWM276 R397 - Guards
• AWM276 R445 - Honours and awards
• AWM276 R459 - Intelligence
• AWM276 R487 - Leave - Military
• AWM276 R497 - Logistics
• AWM276 R499 - Mail and postal