Wounded Viet Cong (VC) prisoners arrive at the Vung Tau helicopter medical pad and are taken by ...

Wounded Viet Cong (VC) prisoners arrive at the Vung Tau helicopter medical pad and are taken by ambulance to the hospital. Here the stretchers are carried into the ambulance. On 18 August 1966, D Company, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) fought a battle against more than 2 000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops in a rubber plantation near the village of Long Tan. After fighting in torrential rain for four hours, and almost being overrun, they were supported by accurate artillery fire from the nearby Australian task force base, an ammunition resupply by two Iroquois helicopters from 9 Squadron, RAAF, and the arrival of infantry reinforcements carried by Armoured Personnel Carriers. Eighteen Australians were killed and twenty-four wounded as a result of this engagement, which became known as the Battle of Long Tan.