THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN 18/8/66 NVA/VC REVISITED

NVA/VC Casualties: Figures for NVA/VC casualties at the Battle of Long Tn are
disputed ranging from a low of 30 killed in some Vietnamese communist sources to over
1,600 claimed by one Western source.
NVA/VC Histories state: 30 KIA, 32 KIA, or 47 KIA.
versus
Official Australian figures: 245 KIA and:
Unofficial:
losses at 500 (BRIG S.C. Graham, COMD 1ATF).
800 KIA, 850 KIA.
878 KIA (the purported My To /OP MARSDEN document)
1,632 KIA (a fraudulent claim).
nearly 2,000 dead and wounded
---------------------------------------------------------------
NVA/VC Participants: These vary in Australian accounts my assessment is:

INVOLVED
Battle of Long Tn 18 August 1966:
(Recce Party: participants noted, but the exact dates are unclear
1
)

HQ 5
th
VC Division a small command and staff element led by Lieutenant Colonel
Trn Minh Tm (Nm Tm) and including Nguyn Thanh Hng (Hai Hng).
HQ B Ra-Long Khnh (B Long) Provincial Unit a small command and staff
element led by ng Hu Thun (t ng).
275 VC Regiment - led by Nguyn Thi Bng (t Thi): three battalions including
the former NVA D605 Battalion as its 3
rd
Battalion (wef May 1966).
D445 VC Battalion led by Bi Quang Chnh (or less likely: V Quc Chnh (T
Chnh). Strength 392 (see Chnhs biannual report of 8 July 1966 - ie not 550 as in
1ATF reporting).
V Th Su Civil Labour Company led by Ms Chn Phng.
C.12-65 Bnh Gi Assault Youth Unit for commo-liaison (runner) support and
casualty evacuation.
Surgery element including Dr Hai Phong and Dr Nguyn nh Knh.
Reconnaissance element of 5
th
VC Division probable.
70mm gun/howitzer (probably an element of Z-39 Artillery Battalion) .

NOT INVOLVED
274 VC Regiment see the entry for 18 August 1966 in the Regiment 2ics (Nguyn
Nam Hng) notebook and 28 September 1966 description of the Battle of Long Tn.
2

D440 Battalion not yet formed, still in North Vietnam moved south as 211 Group
in early-mid 1967.
3

D400 Battalion (did not exist error on a plaque); D806 or D860C Battalion (in
1966-67 were believed by RVNAF and Allied Forces to be cover-names for D445).

1
See Chamberlain, E.P., The Viet Cong D445 Battalion: Their Story, Point Lonsdale, 2011, p.40.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/62621973/The-Viet-Cong-D445-Battalion-Their-Story
2
Recovered by 5RAR on 19 October 1966 (Captain R.J. ONeill, intelligence officer).
3
See Chamberlain, E.P., The Viet Cong D440 Battalion: Their Story, Point Lonsdale, 2012.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/137658877/The-Viet-Cong-D440-Battalion-Their-Story
Nguyn Vn Kim was not the D445 commander at the Battle
4
, but was then
commander of the Chu c District Unit (see below).

275 VC Main Force Regiment: In late 2011, a H Ni-based Vietnamese NGO in
collaboration with the next-of-kin of the deceased 275 Regiment soldiers, produced
5
a
detailed listing of those reportedly killed at Long Tn with names, year and place of birth,
unit, and next-of-kin detail totalling 171. From the data of those 275 Regiment soldiers
reportedly killed at the Battle of Long Tn the following can probably be deduced:
About 54% were Northerners from the 3
rd
/D605 Battalion; the average age of those
killed was 25, and the oldest was 45 (ie L Thin Thai
6
, b.1921 - a platoon commander in the
Regiments 3
rd
/D605 Battalion).The youngest was 17 (b.1949) from the Delta, and there were
21 soldiers aged 18.
The career of the 275 Regiments commander Nguyn Thi Bng, did not falter
after the heavy casualties suffered by the Regiment at Long Tn he went on to become a
Division Commander, a Front Commander in Cambodia, a Region Commander, and - as a
Lieutenant General, was the Vice Minister of Defence (in the late 1990s).

274 VC Main Force Regiment was not at the Battle of Long Tn. Several published
books and articles claim that 274 Regiment was at the Battle, in the area, or tasked to ambush
any US reinforcements moving to Long Tn. An article on the Internet includes a map
showing 274 Regiment located west of Ni t 2 - one kilometre north of the Battle site.
However, the recovered notebook of 274 Regiments 2ic (Nguyn Nam Hng see footnote
2), indicates that at the time of the Battle, 274 Regiment was many kilometres away in base
camps in the Ht Dch area (vicinity YS 4682) and in north-eastern Phc Tuy (north of Bnh
Gi village in the Sui L area, vicinity YS 512878) planning an attack on strategic hamlets
on Route 1 in the Hng Ngha-Hng Lc area of central-western Long Khnh Province and
rice-portering tasks east of the Sng Ray and in the Route 23 area of south-eastern Phc
Tuy. CaptainTrevor Richards the OC of the Australian SIGINT unit (547 Signal Troop)
advised the 1ATF commander on 18 August of 274 Regiments location and commented that
they did not appear to be preparing for combat - seemed to be on R & R.

Nguyn Vn Kim In the years after the War, Nguyn Vn Kim (Nam Kim) was
regularly presented by Vietnamese authorities as the commander of D445 at the Battle of
Long Tn - to visiting Australian historians, journalists and veterans including a former
Chief of the Army, and to the Australian Deputy Prime Minister. Apart from briefings, Kim
also conducted on-site battlefield tours. However, Kim was not at the Battle. Rather, at the
time, he was the commander of the Chu c District Unit and signed an administrative
order in that capacity on 19 August 1966. However, about 16-17 months after the Battle, he
did command D445 (from January 1968). A long time Party member - a Southerner who had
regrouped to the North in the mid-1950s, Kim died in August 2009 and is buried in Baria.

Australian War Memorial Conference: Vietnam: International Perspectives on a Long War
- Ernie Chamberlain, 16 August 2013 (chamber@pipeline.com.au)

4
The D445 commander at the Battle of Long Tn was Bi Quang Chnh (Su Chnh) or less likely: V Quc
Chnh (T Chnh). For biographies of Bi Quang Chnh and Nguyn Vn Kim see Annex B to Chamberlain,
E.P., D445 , op.cit., 2011.
5
First reported in: Kim Dung, Tm gng bnh d m cao qu: Hng MARIN c b thin s , Qun i
Nhn Dn, H Ni, 19 November 2011 (the initial report cited 179 killed and had units listed incorrectly).
6
See also his Certificate of Commendation (Giy Khen) for the Battle of ng n on 30 June 1966.