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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 1, 2016 22:32:52 GMT 12
Please forgive me if this seems like a silly question to some, but I honestly don't know much about this and cannot find anything of substance online. During the Vietnam War were the soldiers of the New Zealand Infantry performing the jungle patrols deep into potentially enemy territory, like the Americans infantry,and like the kiwi soldiers had done in Malaya and Borneo? Or were they there performing a different role?
If they were, whereabouts was the front line area that they were patrolling? Was it fluid and ever moving backwards and forwards? Were the NZ Infantry moved around the country a lot? Or was their front line static for the six or so years they were involved with the war?
Do we have any actual NZ Army Vietnam veterans here on the forum?
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Post by davidd on Jan 2, 2016 9:59:02 GMT 12
I think pretty well EVERYWHERE in South Vietnam was enemy territory, particularly at night. That is why it was such a difficult war to wage, and is probably why it is the most popular way of waging war if you have a large civilian population and only have access to light weapons and your enemy has the largest armed forces in the word. It is in fact the default means of waging war today, particularly in relatively poor countries.
David D
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Post by thelensofhistory on Jan 5, 2016 0:00:29 GMT 12
Please forgive me if this seems like a silly question to some, but I honestly don't know much about this and cannot find anything of substance online. During the Vietnam War were the soldiers of the New Zealand Infantry performing the jungle patrols deep into potentially enemy territory, like the Americans infantry,and like the kiwi soldiers had done in Malaya and Borneo? Or were they there performing a different role? If they were, whereabouts was the front line area that they were patrolling? Was it fluid and ever moving backwards and forwards? Were the NZ Infantry moved around the country a lot? Or was their front line static for the six or so years they were involved with the war? Do we have any actual NZ Army Vietnam veterans here on the forum? From what I have read Victor Company was attached to 6RAR. Whisky Company was attached to 3RAR. 3RAR and 6RAR was a part of the Australian Task Force (ATF) based at Nui Dat. The Australian Task Force Area of Operations was Phuoc Tuy Province. I don't recall to what extent Kiwi troops were involved with the defence of Firebase Coral which if I recall correctly took place outside of the ATF Area of Operations. While specific procedures and cultural differences (Maori troops) Australian and Kiwi Infantry shared a mutual understanding of Jungle Warfare. So yeah the tactics and doctrines used by the ATF were by far much closer to those used in Borneo and Malaysia than the US approach. |
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