A Battery, 2/35th Artillery (US) M109 155 mm self-propelled howitzers dug in at Fire Support Base ...

A Battery, 2/35th Artillery (US) M109 155 mm self-propelled howitzers dug in at Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral during Operation Toan Thang I; two artillery red and white aiming posts are evident to the left of photograph centre. FSB Coral was the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base for the operation, within its Area of Operations (AO) Surfers; the FSB included Headquarters 1ATF (Main), with arms and services units supporting the infantry operations of 1RAR and 3RAR within the AO. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) forces had been moving through the AO as well as adjoining allied AOs to conduct their May offensive against Saigon and were expected to withdraw on the same routes. AO Surfers was centred some 10 km NW of Tan Uyen on the Song Dong Nai, and 30 km NNE of Saigon. Ross Alexander, then a bombardier with 12th Field Regiment, arrived at FSB Coral by helicopter as a reinforcement on the afternoon of 13 May 1968; the relatively undisturbed long grass around the howitzers would indicate an early stage of the FSB development, the photograph being taken not long after his arrival.