Australians find large cache DPR/TV/1222

Accession Number F04412
Collection type Film
Measurement 6 min 4 sec
Object type Actuality footage, Television news footage
Physical description 16mm/b&w/silent
Maker Ward, Peter Anthony
Place made Vietnam: Phuoc Tuy Province
Date made 10 December 1969
Access Open
Conflict Vietnam, 1962-1975
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Description

In Vietnam last week the enemy effort in Phuoc Tuy Province received a major set-back when an Australian infantry company discovered a cache of about three tons of mines and grenades and numerous weapons and mortars. It was the largest explosives and weapons cache found in Phuoc Tuy Province - the area of responsibility specially allotted to the Australian Task Force. The cache was found in the May Tao mountains in the north-east of the province by Delta Company of the ANZAC unit, a combined Australian and New Zealand Battalion. The 6th Battalion moved into the area about a week before the find, the first time the Australians had been in the area for a year. The explosives and weapons were found in a cave while Delta Company was searching for two major hospital complexes believed to be in the area. Company members moved the explosives out of the cache to a nearby bomb crater for destruction. In the cache were 22 anti-tank mines, 2,500 anti-personnel stick mines, 90 anti-tank stick grenades, a 74 millimetre recoiless rifle, 60 millimetre mortar, 22 boxes of anti-shipping mines, seven telephones, burp guns, rifles and other smaller items. The find was later destroyed by explosives brought in by the Company. Also identified: Pl Comdr, Lt Paul Jackson of Shellharbour, NSW; Coy Comdr, Maj Mick Gill of Keperra, Qld; Pl Sgt, Sgt Kevin Donald of Townsville, Qld; L/Cpl Bill Grubb of Lauderdale, Tas; Cpl Brian Mills of Townsville, Qld; Pte Graham Baird of Bayswater, WA; Capt Stewart Grant of Bandiana, Vic; Capt Ted Ellem of Bulleen, Vic.

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