Dedicated to
Signalman A. H. Young
104
Sig Sqn
KIA at FSPB CORAL,
SVN, 16th May 1968
(Never forgotten Cowboy)
Royal Australian Corps of Signals
Battle of Coral Balmoral
Operation Toan Thang
(Final Victory)
The Battle of Coral Balmoral began on 12th May 1968 and lasted until 6th June 1968. It was the largest and most sustained engagement of the Vietnam War involving Australian troops and was the first Australian all arms brigade sized operation since WW2. 26 Australians were KIA and over 109 WIA. All members who were part of the 1st Australian Task Force (Forward) during the Battle were awarded the Unit Citation for Gallantry (UCG) on the 13th May 2018 (50th Anniversary of the battle).
Click Unit Citation for Gallantry Government Gazette 21 March 2019 (PDF) This also included members of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals from 104 Sig Sqn (Fwd) and detachments from 110 Sig Sqn (Force Signals), 547 Sig Tp (SIGINT) plus the 53rd Sig Bn (US Army).
Signalman
Alexander Young from 104 Sig Sqn was KIA
during the battle and three other 104 Sig Sqn members
WIA. Two major reunions for all the veterans of the Battle of Coral Balmoral have been held in Canberra. The first in May 2008 (40th Anniversary) and the most recent in May 2018 (50th Anniversary). Battle Overview
In early May 1968, the Australian Commander agreed to a request by General Weyand (US Commander, II Field Force), for the deployment of a forward Task Force of over 2000 troops from the Australian Nui Dat base into War Zone D as part of a joint blocking force. The situation was that enemy troops were withdrawing north away from the recent unsuccessful Mini-Tet Offensive against Saigon. The mission was to intercept and disrupt these troops in an attempt to prevent them from reorganizing in their staging areas. Consequently on 12th May 1968 the advance elements of the Australian Task Force were deployed into the Area of Operations (AO) called AO Surfers and Fire Support Patrol Base Coral (FSPB Coral) was established. The following day FSPB Coogee was established to provide support for FSPB Coral. After two weeks FSPB Coogee was abandoned and FSPB Balmoral established.
There were many
‘first’
in this battle. The most significant first for the
Battle of Coral Balmoral was that this was the first
time since WWII that Australian troops had operated
independently on the battlefield as a Fighting Brigade.
This proved to be most fortunate as they came up
against one of the toughest, aggressive and most
competent North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Divisions that was
very willing and prepared do whatever was needed to
defend their controlling presence in the area. It
turned out that these Australian FSPBs were unknowingly
established very close to the headquarters of the battle
hardened and well established 7 Division, NVA. Their Commander saw an
opportunity to immediately annihilate or at least to
restrict the mission of the new troops who had
encroached into ‘his’ area. He did
this by using two of his Regiments to separately assault
the Australians with four full-on major night attacks. The
Australians, however, in both FSPBs, each repelled two
Regimental sized attacks on their positions. This was
no mean feat given the tactics, skills, aggressive
competence and strength of the enemy.
On three occasions during these
attacks on FSPB Coral, the NVA forces over-ran elements
of the Australian FSPB. The entire Mortar Platoon base
plate position of 1RAR, one Gun position of 102 Field
Battery and the forward pits of 3 Platoon, A Coy, 1RAR
were over-run by ‘human wave’ enemy assaults, requiring
determined and successful counter attacks. In addition to the 4 major
attacks during the 26 day battle period from 12th
May to 6th June 1968, there were 57 other
Section, Platoon or Company size contacts and attacks
conducted by the Australian troops which simply and
dramatically highlights the intensity. The Australian casualties in this battle were the highest of any battle in the Vietnam War with 26 killed in action (KIA) and 109 wounded in action (WIA). The enemy suffered 276 KIA by body count (with many more suspected battle evacuations). If the Australian troops had not fought so skilfully and heroically, the enemy may well have completely over-run one or both of these bases. If this had occurred it would have created the potential to have an immediate adverse political and social impact on Australia’s resolve to continue the war.
Richard Norden VC
Private Richard Norden VC, was posthumously awarded, Australia's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross (VC), for his bravery during the Battle of Coral Balmoral, Remembrance Day 2024. Richard was a member of 1RAR and this was an upgraded from the orignal DCM awarded after the battle. The citation for the award of the Victoria Cross for Australia, Private Richard Norden For most conspicuous
acts of gallantry in action in the presence of the enemy in
the ‘AO Surfers’ Area of Operations in Bien Hoa province,
Vietnam, on the 14th of May 1968 during the Battle of Fire
Support Base Coral. During Operation Toan Thang the 5th
Platoon, Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, the Royal
Australian Regiment, were ambushed and came under heavy fire
from an estimated squad of seven to ten North Vietnamese
army regular soldiers. Addtional Battle Information
For addtional information on units
and veteran interviews, see the
interactive documentary
The
song
about the battle is sung by Golden
Guitar winner, Graham Rodger. Go to top of page |