Vietnam+War

1965: In April 1965, Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies announced that the government had received from South Vietnam a request for further military assistance. "We have decided…in close consultation with the Government of the United States...to provide an infantry battalion for service in Vietnam." He believed that a communist victory in South Vietnam would be a direct military threat to Australia, with the feared Domino theory. "It must be seen as part of a thrust by Communist China between the Indian and Pacific Oceans" he added. However, it is apparent today that Australia didn’t recieve request from South Vietnam, and against considerable advice from the Defence Department, Australian politicians made the decision, in support with the US commitment of combat troops earlier that year. The 600 regular army soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) were attached to the US 173rd Airborne Brigade on arrival, participating in several operations in Bien Hoa province, in 1965. However, Australian and US military leaders agreed to future deployment of Australian combat forces in a discrete province. This also allowed the Australian army to "fight their own tactical war", independently of the US. The initial projections of a 1000-strong 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Group (1 RAR) group in 1965 and of an independent 4500-strong task force to Vietnam in 1966 exposed problems with force projection that echoed deficiencies evident in 1942 (New Guinea), 1950 (Korea) and 1955 (Malaya). The Americans assisted the 1 RAR group in 1965. However, they were not in a position to do so for the task force in 1966.
 * __AUSTRALIANS AT WAR - VIETNAM__**
 * 29 April—The Prime Minister announces the dispatch of an infantry battalion to South Vietnam, with an armored personnel carrier (APC) troop, a signals troop and a logistic support company.
 * 27 May—The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment leaves for Vietnam on HMAS //Sydney//.
 * 8 June—HMAS //Sydney// arrives at Vũng Tàu, South Vietnam, carrying the bulk of the Australian force. 1251189665

On the afternoon of 29 April 1965, Australians were warned that the Australian Government would ‘provide an infantry battalion for service in Vietnam.’ Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies delivered a statement to the Lower House of Parliament that evening, explaining that the decision was made in response to a request for ‘further military assistance’ by the Government of South Vietnam and in consultation with the United States Government. Five days after the Prime Minister’s announcement, the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives, Arthur Calwell, spoke in Parliament, opposing Australia’s commitment of troops to South Vietnam. "Our men will be fighting the largely indigenous Viet Cong in their own home territory. They will be fighting in the midst of a largely indifferent, if not resentful, and frightened population. They will be fighting at the request of, and in support, and, presumably, under the direction of an unstable, inefficient, partially corrupt military regime which lacks even the semblance of being, or becoming, democratically based."-Excerpt from Mr Arthur Calwell’s speech, 4 May 1965 Taylor.

**//__1966:__//** The war became ‘more intense’ [1], and both increased their participation because neither side was certain of victory [2]. At this stage in the war, there was still high support for the governments policies in Vietnam. A federal election saw the ‘overwhelming’ [3] win for the Liberal government, who are known for their pragmatic and bilateral political views. Menzies retires and Holt replaces him, and introduces conscription in Australia for the first time. Holt believed that Australia needed a ‘strong relationship with the United States for security reasons’ [4], and pledged total support for the Alliance when he visited ‘LBJ’ in this year. When ‘LBJ” visited Australia, there were big protests and demonstrations, but overall was accepted by the Australian public. By 1967 there were an increasing amount of opposition being publicised. Artists and writers began to express their negative sentiments about the war. [5] At the end of 1967, there were 8,000 Australian troops serving in Vietnam. [6] The US believed that they were winning the war, as they were forcing North Vietnamese out of areas that they had previously held down [7]. The US was completely unaware of the plans the north Vietnamese had for the Tet offensive in their new year. 1251193278 
 * //__1967:__//**

 [1] Simmelhaig, H & Spencely, G. //For Australia’s Sake//. (Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, 1984), pg 158 [2] ibid. pg 1858 [3] Mirams, S et. al. //Imagining Australia//. (South Melbourne: Thomson, 2006), pg 180 [4] ibid. pg 181 [5] ibid. pg 181 [6] ibid. pg 182 [7] Simmelhaig, Op. Cit. pg 158

====**In Augest 1967 a congressional comitee begun hearings to investigate the progress of the air war in Vietnam. secretary of defence robert McNamra agreed to testify declairing the bombing campain was a failure. At this time those who were for the war amd those who were against the war. the US military reported that stedy gains were being made and that far from being a "stalemate", the communist collapse was imminent. General Westmoresent glowing telegrams to the white house "Friendly fos have seized the military initiative from the enimy...Hhe has been prevented from employing primary strategy..because of steadily improving military strengths."**==== historian interpretation- most historians support the oppinion that in 1967 the popular belief was that we were winning and were going to win the war (the Tet attack happened in 1968)

The biggest event to take place at Vietnam during the war happened on January 31st 1968. The North Vietnamese regular army and the Viet Cong launched what came to be called the TET (New Year) offensive. These forces attacked over 100 cities in South Vietnam including 35 of 44 provincial capitals. The offensive included Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, as Viet Cong guerillas penetrated the U.S. Embassy compound. On January 21, 1968, North Vietnamese regular forces launched an attack on the American installation at Khe Sahn, a remote outpost. The attack conjured up fears, especially for LBJ, of Dien Bien Phu and American forces were ordered to hold the base. The seige lasted for over two months and the North Vietnamese were eventually turned back after the base was reinforced in April of 1968. During May in 1986 there were large scale enemy attacks on Australian positions in the battle of Fire Bases Coral and Balmoral and at the village of Binh Ba. Meena Bose: “The Vietnam war continues to divide people because it was an unresolved war. Some people view it as a terrible loss. Other see it as a potential victory that could have gone further if we had stayed in longer.” Laura Grassick [] []
 * __ 1968- __**



By 1969 anti-war protests began in Australia to try and persuade the government not to send more soldier to Vietnam, these protest over the year became increasingly more violent. A 'don't register' campaign had also begun in an attemp to discourage young men from registering for conscriptions. The us government applied the policy of "Vietnamization'’ that was for the withdrawal of U.S forces over time, to leave the war in the hands of the South Vietnamese. With the beginning of these phased withdrawals, the importance of the activities of the Australians in Phouc Tuy province shifted to providing training to the South Vietnamese Regional and Popular Forces.1251185659
 * __1969:__**

By late 1970 Australia had begun to wind down its military effort in Vietnam. The 8th Battalion departed in November (and was not replaced). The period of major protest in Australia (the moratorium marches of the early 1970s) occurred at a time when Australia was disengaging from the war. Anti-war groups existed in Australia long before the war became widely unpopular. Organisations such as Save Our Sons and Youth Campaign Against Conscription were at the vanguard of the protest movement fighting, in the early days, a lonely campaign against Australia’s involvement in a war that had yet to attract widespread opposition. More than 200,000 people marched in the streets of Australia’s major cities in protest. " The biggest mistake was the failure to go about a fair dinkum approach of boosting the South Vietnamese Army in the early stages, giving them a fair allocation of helicopters and artillery and the like, and above all else comprehensive training. Subsequently, after the Tet Offensive in 1968 and after President Nixon replaced President Johnson in early 1969, the catch-cry went up that ‘Vietnamisation would turn things around’ and a huge effort was attempted, finally, to boost the South Vietnamese Army. It was too little, too late." - Tim Fischer 1251187633
 * __1970:__**