On the Offensive The Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967-1968.

• Author: McGibbon, Ian
• Position: Book Review

ON THE OFFENSIVE The Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967-1968

Authors: Ian McNeill and Ashley Ekins Published by: Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, Crows Nest, 2003, 650pp, A$85 (hb).

Between 1962 and 1972 the Australian Army was heavily involved in South Vietnam. Advisers were sent first, and in 1965 an infantry battalion (to be followed a year later by another). A task force was formed with its base at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy province. From 1967 the Australians endeavoured to pacify the province, a difficult task given the scale of enemy forces there and the lack of infantry available. The dispatch of a third battalion late in that year increased the task force's offensive capacity, but the enemy's Tet offensive of January 1968 led to the task force being deployed mainly in neighbouring Bien Hoa province. During the first half of the year it fought several significant actions there. In its absence the Viet Cong nullified much of the work earlier done in Phuoc Tuy province.

The task force's operations in 1967-68 are outlined in this volume, the second covering Australian ground operations in Vietnam. The first, covering operations up to the end of 1966, was written by Vietnam veteran Ian McNeill, but he died while working on what was to be the second and concluding volume in the history. His research assistant Ashley Ekins took over to complete the volume. Ekins soon found that it was necessary to cover the story from 1967 to 1972 in two volumes. A third volume will therefore take the story from mid-1968 to the final withdrawal of Australia's forces.

This is a very detailed and well-researched history. McNeill and Ekins have used Australian and American sources to good effect. They outline well the dilemmas confronting the Australian commanders as they sought to carry out extensive missions with limited forces. They provide balanced coverage of such aspects as the controversial barrier mine field, which boomeranged on the Australians when the Viet Cong began lifting the mines and using them.

A particular merit of the volume is its coverage of the 'other side of the hill'. The authors visited Vietnam, and spoke with communist participants in and historians of the war. Communist documents are cited to provide a partial picture...