Changes

According to Burstall, the Vietnamese commander at Long Tan, Colonel [[Nguyen Thanh Hong]], was amazed that the Australians could look on the battle as a victory:{{cquote|How can you claim a victory when you allowed yourselves to walk into a trap that we had set? Admittedly we did not finish the job, but that was only because time beat us and your reinforcements arrived. I mean you did not even attempt to follow us up. How can you claim a significant victory from that sort of behaviour?<ref>[http://www.hotkey.net.au/~marshalle/Terryb.htm Long Tan: The Other Side of the Hill]</ref>}}

According to Burstall, the Vietnamese commander at Long Tan, Colonel [[Nguyen Thanh Hong]], was amazed that the Australians could look on the battle as a victory:{{cquote|How can you claim a victory when you allowed yourselves to walk into a trap that we had set? Admittedly we did not finish the job, but that was only because time beat us and your reinforcements arrived. I mean you did not even attempt to follow us up. How can you claim a significant victory from that sort of behaviour?<ref>[http://www.hotkey.net.au/~marshalle/Terryb.htm Long Tan: The Other Side of the Hill]</ref>}}

Lieutenant-Colonel Townsend was reportedly unable to pursue the mauled 275th Regiment because of the vulnerability of the Nui Dat base to an attack from the 274th Regiment. However, seven days later the 173rd Airborne Brigade, a US marine battalion, several ARVN battalions and 5 RAR joined Operation ''Toledo'' and from 25 August to 7 September were involved in a large-scale sweep of the area. Captain Robert O'Neill (Intelligence Officer, 5 RAR) wrote that no evidence of heavy enemy casualties were found:{{cquote|...the battalion had been keyed up to the possibility of a major encounter with the Viet Cong-a battle which would have had a decisive effect on the Viet Cong in Phuoc Tuy Province. Instead all we found was dense jungle with no trace of any large Viet Cong force ever having been in the area.<ref>Robert O'Neill, Vietnam Task: The 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, 1966/67, Cassell, Melbourne, 1968, p. 93</ref>}}

Lieutenant-Colonel Townsend was reportedly unable to pursue the mauled 275th Regiment because of the vulnerability of the Nui Dat base to an attack from the 274th Regiment. However, seven days later the [[173rd Airborne Brigade]], a US marine battalion, several ARVN battalions and 5 RAR joined in Operation ''Toledo'' and from 25 August to 7 September were involved in a large-scale sweep of the area. Captain Robert O'Neill (Intelligence Officer, 5 RAR) wrote that no evidence of heavy casualties were found in the enemy retreat:{{cquote|...the battalion had been keyed up to the possibility of a major encounter with the Viet Cong-a battle which would have had a decisive effect on the Viet Cong in Phuoc Tuy Province. Instead all we found was dense jungle with no trace of any large Viet Cong force ever having been in the area.<ref>Robert O'Neill, Vietnam Task: The 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, 1966/67, Cassell, Melbourne, 1968, p. 93</ref>}}

==Aftermath==

==Aftermath==