The Battle of Long Tan by Peter FitzSimons

Author:Peter FitzSimons [Fitzsimons, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, History, Military History, War, Vietnam War, Australia, Vietnam
ISBN: 9780733646638
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Published: 2022-10-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

ROCKED

The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.

Joseph Heller, Catch-22

1542 hours, 18 August 1966, Nui Dat, what that?

Singing a torch song in steaming, streaming sunlight is as hard as Chinese calculus, but Little Pattie is giving it a red hot go, crooning her hit ‘Dance Puppet Dance’, backed all the way by the Joy Boys.

CRACKKK!

The New Zealand artillery are not very good at timing their timpani and Little Pattie gives a little leap and a slightly smaller yelp in surprise.

The Joy Boys jump too and the troops laugh, a reassuring sound. Nothing to worry about … unless you’re the Viet Cong.

Besides, it is not unusual for the artillery to suddenly fire up like this: probably just a bit of HI (Harassment & Interdiction) where one of the patrols get a sniff of the enemy in a particular area and ask for a bit of curry to be sent their way. There’ll be half-a-dozen shots or so to stir Charlie up, and then it will stop.

Or maybe it is a DF (Defensive Fire) task, dropping a few shells to work out the co-ordinates of a likely route of enemy attack. That way if the attack comes in the night, they can immediately get shells on those very co-ordinates.

For her part, Little Pattie gamely keeps singing despite the shattering noise of the firing, her brain clicking over on one track even as her voice sings her hit track.

‘Gee, sounds like a bit of activity,’ she thinks, while taking solace in the fact that none of the thousand soldiers in front of her dressed in green has moved.

‘Well, they know more than me,’ she reasons. ‘Nobody’s moving from them!’1 So she keeps moving and bopping as the soldiers whistle even as the Kiwis keep firing – so it must be HI – and the men clap their encouragement. Well, when you give a concert in the theatre of war, what do you expect? Col Joye is unfamiliar with bombing, onstage or off, but he’s a pro. Two shows nearly down, one more to go. Hit them with a hit, a sure-fire smash:

‘Bye, Bye, Baby, Goodbye’ … Everybody now!

CRACKKK!

Little Pattie jumps again, and they all laugh once more.

•

Out in the Long Tan plantation with Delta Company, there are one or two exceptions to the general feeling of ‘Let’s have at ’em!’

John Robbins has been keeping a close eye on Frank Topp.

‘How you going, Frank?’ he asks.

Frank grunts in reply and nods. He’s fine, thanks for asking. Just trying to do his best.

Fanned out, they walk quickly, hoping to catch up with the remnants of the patrol Bob Buick fired on or perhaps the original bullock carts they had been pursuing. Such speed places them ever further ahead of 10 Platoon, who are the closest to them, with Delta HQ and 12 Platoon further to the rear again.

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