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298 bytes added ,  02:15, August 28, 2017
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Private Trevor Atkinson of A Company, 6th Battalion helped recover the fallen of 11 Platoon:{{cquote|I can still see those 11 Platoon soldiers lying in a staright row, their weapons at the ready. Most had been shot in the back. After a while, a Delta Company officer came up and asked me what the hell I was doing. I could see he was in shock so I just quietly moved away.<ref>[https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/long-tan-behind-the-smokescreen,9369 Long Tan: Behind the smokescreen]</ref>}}
 
Private Trevor Atkinson of A Company, 6th Battalion helped recover the fallen of 11 Platoon:{{cquote|I can still see those 11 Platoon soldiers lying in a staright row, their weapons at the ready. Most had been shot in the back. After a while, a Delta Company officer came up and asked me what the hell I was doing. I could see he was in shock so I just quietly moved away.<ref>[https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/long-tan-behind-the-smokescreen,9369 Long Tan: Behind the smokescreen]</ref>}}
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Both sides tried to evacuate the injured in the darkness, although several wounded Australians spent a long and terrifying night on the battlefield while the women and girls of the VC medical platoon (''Mrs Phuong's Medical Evacuation Unit'') moved around them. The morning light revealed the full extent of the horror. Around 50-245 (depending on the source) Viet Cong bodies were found in the battle area and it was thought that many more were removed in the night. Eighteen Australians were killed at Long Tan and 24 wounded – over one third of the initial force engaged. Another 23 Australians were killed or wounded in the preliminary VC bombardment. In all, 188 enemy killed and wounded were reported by the CO of 6th RAR in his initial report on 19 August.<ref>"Enemy casualties [were] 188 and 3 Viet Cong captured". (See 6th RAR War Diary, available online)</ref>The platoon under Second Lieutenant Eric Andrews reported a body count of about fifty killed on 20 August.<ref>"50 enemy bodies buried in [D] company location." (6th RAR War Diary, available online)</ref>
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Both sides tried to evacuate the injured in the darkness, although several wounded Australians spent a long and terrifying night on the battlefield while the women and girls of the VC medical platoon (''Mrs Phuong's Medical Evacuation Unit'') moved around them. The morning light revealed the full extent of the horror. Around 50-245 (depending on the source) Viet Cong bodies were found in the battle area and it was thought that many more were removed in the night. Eighteen Australians were killed at Long Tan and 24 wounded – over one third of the initial force engaged. Another 23 Australians were killed or wounded in the preliminary VC bombardment. In all, 188 enemy killed and wounded were reported by the CO of 6th RAR in his initial report on 19 August.<ref>"Enemy casualties [were] 188 and 3 Viet Cong captured". (See 6th RAR War Diary, available online)</ref>The platoon under Second Lieutenant Eric Andrews reported a body count of about fifty killed on 20 August.<ref>"50 enemy bodies buried in [D] company location." (6th RAR War Diary, available online)</ref>The Vietnamese on their part have conceded 30 dead and 60 wounded in the 275th Regiment.<ref>Long Tan and Beyond: Alpha Company 6 RAR in Vietnam 1966-67, Charles S. Mollison, Page 133, Cobb's Crossing Publications, 2006</ref>Around 12 VC were killed in the D445 company that took part in the battle.
    
The official Australian Army history ''To Long Tan'', by the Australian military historian Ian McNeill, lists the number of Vietnamese killed in action as 245 and three enemy captured. However, new research shows that the Australian claim of 245 enemy soldiers killed in the battle to be a highly inflated body-count.<ref>''"The VC divisional planners estimated that four to six labourers would be needed for every wounded soldier requiring evacuation. A 30 percent casualty rate at Long Tan would mean a force of 1,200 would take 360 casualties. Using an 80:20 split for the casualties, 288 would be wounded and 72 killed. To get the seriously wounded and dead off the field, a labour force of something like 800 would be needed. If the casualty figures were increased to 245 dead, the wounded would be 980. Under the 30 per cent rule that would mean an attacking force of just over 4,000, plus a clearance labour force of 3,500. These are unimaginable numbers ..."'' (Vietnam: The Complete Story Of The Australian War,  Bruce Davies,  Gary McKay,  Allen & Unwin, 2013)</ref>
 
The official Australian Army history ''To Long Tan'', by the Australian military historian Ian McNeill, lists the number of Vietnamese killed in action as 245 and three enemy captured. However, new research shows that the Australian claim of 245 enemy soldiers killed in the battle to be a highly inflated body-count.<ref>''"The VC divisional planners estimated that four to six labourers would be needed for every wounded soldier requiring evacuation. A 30 percent casualty rate at Long Tan would mean a force of 1,200 would take 360 casualties. Using an 80:20 split for the casualties, 288 would be wounded and 72 killed. To get the seriously wounded and dead off the field, a labour force of something like 800 would be needed. If the casualty figures were increased to 245 dead, the wounded would be 980. Under the 30 per cent rule that would mean an attacking force of just over 4,000, plus a clearance labour force of 3,500. These are unimaginable numbers ..."'' (Vietnam: The Complete Story Of The Australian War,  Bruce Davies,  Gary McKay,  Allen & Unwin, 2013)</ref>
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