Battle of Nui Le
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The Battle of Núi Lé (21 September 1971) was the last major battle fought by Australian and New Zealand forces in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
.Rowe 1989, p. 159. The battle was fought in the former Phước Tuy Province between elements of the
People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...
(PAVN) 33rd Regiment and 'B' and 'D' Companies of the 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion and during
Operation Ivanhoe Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. Núi Lé, a small hill within Quang Thanh commune in Chau Duc District, is today in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.


Background

The decision for the Australian withdrawal from Vietnam, was made by the Australian Government and commenced in November 1970 and combat forces were to be reduced gradually during 1971. Intelligence pointed towards a major buildup of
Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
(VC) and
People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...
(PAVN) forces in the north of Phước Tuy Province and abductions and assassinations had increased in the adjacent Long Khanh Province. The VC/PAVN were preparing for the withdrawal of the 1st Australian Task Force from Phước Tuy Province, which was gradually being withdrawn from August 1971, and were hoping to defeat the Australians.


Prelude

4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion, consisting of two companies of Australian infantry (B and D Companies) and one company of New Zealand infantry (V Company), was committed to a reconnaissance in force operation, named Operation Ivanhoe against any PAVN/VC forces in the north of former Phuoc Tuy Province. D Company,
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment The 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) is a mechanised infantry battalion of the Australian Army, based in Kapyong Lines, Townsville as part of the 3rd Brigade. 3 RAR traces its lineage to 1945 and has seen operational serv ...
, 1st Troop, A Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Troop, C Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 2 Troop, 104th Field Battery, elements of 104th Signal Squadron and 161st (Independent) Recce Squadron were also committed to the operation. 1 ATF command had gained intelligence that PAVN 33rd Regiment had entered the province with the 33rd Regiment headquarters and 3rd Battalion. Unknown to 1 ATF intelligence was that not only had the 3rd Battalion entered, but so had 2nd Battalion, 33rd Regiment. Between the two battalions PAVN numbers amounted to approximately 1,100 well-trained soldiers. V Company were positioned west of Route 2 conducting
Search-and-destroy Search and destroy, seek and destroy, or simply S&D is a military strategy best known for its employment in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The strategy consists of inserting ground forces into hostile territory, ''search''ing ou ...
patrols with three guns from 104th Field Battery to support them. D Company patrolled east of Route 2. B Company patrolled south near
Bình Ba Bình Ba is a commune (xã) and village in Châu Đức District, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province, in Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast As ...
, with the other three guns of 104th Field Battery and one of the troops of M113 armored personnel carriers. PAVN forces fired rockets and mortars at a
South Vietnamese Regional Force The South Vietnamese Regional Forces ( vi, Địa phương quân, lit. "Local Army"), originally the Civil Guard, were a component of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) territorial defence forces. Recruited locally, they served as full-time p ...
outpost at
Cam My Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bind ...
village on Route 2 on 19 September 1971. The Australian M11s sent to investigate and relieve the outpost were ambushed and came under attack from
rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...
s (RPG) and small arms fire from what was considered to be large force. 11 Platoon of D Company 4 RAR/NZ made contact with a PAVN platoon on 20 September and after a half-hour skirmish, four dead soldiers were found on the battlefield. Their uniforms and equipment and study of the tactics used during the skirmish pointed toward the unit being from the PAVN. Tracks made by the PAVN force indicated about two hundred soldiers had passed through the area. The commander of the PAVN 33rd Regiment, Colonel Nguyen Van Thuong, had received reports from VC spies that most of the Australian artillery was being packed up for shipping back to Australia therefore it was expected that any fight between PAVN and Australian forces would be between infantry forces alone. The PAVN commander set a number of ambushes for the expected Australian relief forces, however the Australians did not follow the route that was expected by the PAVN and went around the ambush sites instead.


Battle

Patrols by 11 Platoon, D Company 4 RAR/NZ on the morning of 21 September, found sawn logs near the south eastern part of the Courtenay rubber plantation which suggested that there were major fortified bunker positions nearby. B and D Company 4 RAR/NZ moved forward near Núi Lé to attack these fortifications.Ham 2008, p. 553. 12 Platoon, D Company 4 RAR/NZ made first contact with a bunker system containing the security elements of 33rd Regiment's headquarters, suffering one dead from an RPG and four wounded. An estimated platoon strength assault attacked 11 Platoon, and after a 15-minute firefight the PAVN forces withdrew to their bunkers after removing their dead and wounded from the battlefield. 11 and 12 platoons were ordered to withdraw to an area to the south so airstrikes and artillery could be called in to soften up the bunker systems. Under the control of the
Forward Observer An artillery observer, artillery spotter or forward observer (FO) is responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire onto a target. It may be a ''forward air controller'' (FAC) for close air support (CAS) and spotter for naval gunfire sup ...
,
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
air strikes were called in and
F-4 Phantoms The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and B ...
and A37 Dragonflys bombed the area with
napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated al ...
, air to surface missiles,
flechette A flechette ( ) is a pointed steel projectile with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from French , "little arrow" or "dart", and sometimes retains the acute accent in English: fléchette. They have been used as ballistic weapons sinc ...
and 500 pound bombs.
Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
and Cobra helicopter gunships and Australian artillery strikes also hit the bunker system. The American pilots reported PAVN forces fleeing to the north. However this was a deceptive move by the PAVN in that they deliberately sent soldiers running from the scene of an attack to create the misbelief that they had abandoned the fight. At 14:00, D Company was ordered forward to search and destroy the bunker systems.Rowe 1989, p. 160. Unknown to the Australians at that time was that the bunker system was manned by the 33rd Regiment's 2nd Battalion and they had not in fact fled after the previous fight as aerial intelligence had reported. The PAVN let the Australians advance some into the bunker complex before opening fire, killing three soldiers and wounding two from 11 Platoon. Many grenades thrown by the PAVN did not explode, reducing casualties. This was fought hand to hand as the
Centurion tank The Centurion was the primary British Army main battle tank of the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing ...
s of the 1st Armoured Regiment had previously been withdrawn from South Vietnam. 12 Platoon was also pinned down and could not move forward. The bodies of the three Australian soldiers who had been killed could not be recovered and orders were given to pull back, which under heavy fire did not happen until 16:00. Just as the sun was setting the ANZAC forces ran into the second PAVN battalion, with the commander of 11 Platoon, Gary McKay being hit twice by a sniper's bullet in the shoulder. It was now pitch black and the forward observer, Captain Greg Gilbert, unable to use his map or compass, and unable to speak to the company commander, Major Jerry Taylor, brought artillery fire to within 25 metres of the company under difficult circumstances as more PAVN forces joined the battle. To compound the artillery problem the company was in range of only three guns and these were at the limit of their range. The PAVN commander subsequently realized the error of the VC intelligence about there being no artillery, and the PAVN disengaged at 21:00 just as the Australians were running low on ammunition.


Aftermath

After a number of hours of fighting the elements of the PAVN 33rd Regiment pulled out of the bunker system and moved north after recovering the dead and wounded they could carry. The Australian wounded were evacuated by helicopter in the morning of 22 September. Five Australians had been killed and 30 wounded. Total PAVN losses are unknown, however 14 bodies were found on the battlefield. On the same day at 17:39 the New Zealanders of V Company RNZIR moved up to reinforce D Company in anticipation of an attack however the day passed with no enemy attack or activity. On 23 September, D and V companies moved back into the area of the bunkers. V Company began the assault on the PAVN bunker system at 11:05 moving in very short bounds in torrential rainfall through bomb and artillery craters and fallen timber and it was not until 17:25 that they reached the bunkers where they found the bodies of three Australians from 11 Platoon who had been killed in the assault the day before. The PAVN had fully vacated the bunker system. V Company cleared a track to a helicopter winch point and the New Zealand riflemen shouldered arms and formed an impromptu "guard of honour" in tribute as members of D Company moved forward with litters for the fallen. For his role in the battle, Second Lieutenant Garry McKay, who was badly wounded, received the
Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...
. Captain Gilbert was awarded the
Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...
in 2018 for his actions during the battle.


Notes


References

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Further reading

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External links


Battle of Nui Le
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nui Le, Battle Of Conflicts in 1971 1971 in Vietnam Battles and operations of the Vietnam War Battles involving Vietnam Battles of the Vietnam War involving Australia Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States Battles of the Vietnam War involving New Zealand Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1971 September 1971 events in Asia History of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province