Changes

The more recent Australian claim that 2,500-3,000 Vietnamese were involved in the battle with D Company is not supported by all Australian authors. Lieutenant-Colonel [[Bob Breen]], author of ''First to Fight'' (the history of 1 RAR's first tour in Vietnam) has written that ''"the Viet Cong 275th Regiment ran into D Company in teeming monsoon rain"'' and that ''"for several hours just over 100 Diggers withstood the best efforts of over 1500 Viet Cong soldiers to kill them."''<ref>Duty First: The Royal Australian Regiment in War and Peace, p. 215, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1990</ref>

The more recent Australian claim that 2,500-3,000 Vietnamese were involved in the battle with D Company is not supported by all Australian authors. Lieutenant-Colonel [[Bob Breen]], author of ''First to Fight'' (the history of 1 RAR's first tour in Vietnam) has written that ''"the Viet Cong 275th Regiment ran into D Company in teeming monsoon rain"'' and that ''"for several hours just over 100 Diggers withstood the best efforts of over 1500 Viet Cong soldiers to kill them."''<ref>Duty First: The Royal Australian Regiment in War and Peace, p. 215, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1990</ref>

Vietnam veterans have also reported that Australian soldiers shot or bayoneted wounded VC no longer trying to defend themselves. [[Bob Buick]] faced criticism in 2000, after admitting that he killed a mortally-wounded Vietnamese soldier on the battlefield, the day after the battle. Such an act would have been in breach of the [[Geneva Convention]] and therefore a war crime. Buick was criticised by both Burstall and then president of the Australian Long Tan Association, John Heslewood. Burstall commented: ''"Bob says it was a mercy killing ... would he have done the same to an Australian?"''<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s164813.htm Hero of Long Tan's "mercy killing" upsets comrades]</ref>

Vietnam veterans have also reported that Australian soldiers shot or bayoneted captured VC wounded no longer trying to defend themselves. [[Bob Buick]] faced criticism in 2000, after admitting that he killed a mortally-wounded Vietnamese soldier on the battlefield, the day after the battle. Such an act would have been in breach of the [[Geneva Convention]] and therefore a war crime. Buick was criticized by both Burstall and then president of the Australian Long Tan Association, John Heslewood. Burstall commented: ''"Bob says it was a mercy killing ... would he have done the same to an Australian?"''<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s164813.htm Hero of Long Tan's "mercy killing" upsets comrades]</ref>

Many Vietnamese participants are adamant that D Company was ambushed. They state that the VC had planned to draw the Australian force into a wooded area to the north of the rubber plantation, where heavy weapons had been set up on a rise known to the Australians as ''"Nui Dat 2 GR4868"''. A supporting company of D445 Battalion were in the south near the village of Long Tan with one anti-tank platoonplaced on the south western edge of the plantation, hoping to slow down any APC-mounted reinforcements, and cut off an Australian retreat. In 2006, [[Sau Thu]], a former major in D445 Battalion, was quoted as saying that he had been ordered to lure the Australians out of Nui Dat, kill as many of them as possible, capture their weapons and then take the base. ''We didn't know how many you had in Nui Dat. We tried to draw them out We thought they would go one way but the Australian soldiers went the wrong way and came behind us."''

Many Vietnamese participants are adamant that D Company was ambushed. They state that the VC had planned to draw the Australian force into a wooded area to the north of the rubber plantation, where heavy weapons had been set up on a rise known to the Australians as ''"Nui Dat 2 GR4868"''. A supporting company of D445 Battalion were in the south near the village of Long Tan with one anti-tank platoon placed on the south western edge of the plantation, hoping to slow down any APC-mounted reinforcements, and cut off an Australian retreat. In 2006, [[Sau Thu]], a former major in D445 Battalion, was quoted as saying that he had been ordered to lure the Australians out of Nui Dat, kill as many of them as possible, capture their weapons and then take the base. ''We didn't know how many you had in Nui Dat. We tried to draw them out We thought they would go one way but the Australian soldiers went the wrong way and came behind us."''

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>}}