Operation Blue Mountains DPR/TV/872

Fifty-ton Centurion tanks, armoured personnel carriers and a company of infantry soldiers, moved into the Long Hai hills in the south-east of Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam, this week for the first time since the massive Operation Pinnaroo in March. During the first day of the operation, soldiers of all units were busy preparing defences at Fire Support Base Barracuda, from which they are now operating. High priority was the preparation of sheltered pits to provide protection from possible enemy mortar and rocket attacks. At dawn, on the second day, members of the armoured and infantry units combined for the laborious task of combing the pockets of jungle left after extensive land clearing operations by the Australians during Operation Pinnaroo. By day the men patrolled both by foot and in the armoured personnel carriers and supported by tanks. At night they set ambushes on possible enemy infiltration routes...but without making any contact. (Also identified: Sergeant Alan Jago, Bundaberg, Qld; Sergeant Andrew Zsolt of Seymour, Vic; Trooper Colin Claydon of Seymour, Vic)