Long Tan - Part 2
All Hell Breaks Loose
Long Tan Action, by Bruce Fletcher
As Delta Company, 6RAR move into the rubber plantation near Long Tan, 11 Platoon surprises a Vietnamese patrol and the first shots of the Battle are fired. With orders to chase the fleeing enemy, 11 Platoon unknowingly heads directly towards the North Vietnamese HQ. The next three hours would become an example of the best, and some of the worst, of the Australian military and their New Zealand comrades.
![Major Harry Smith](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e20487589e422f9d98f90/1663071207409-TSJZY92PGRRLX6M6IQ2Y/Major+Harry+Smith.jpg)
![Pte Jimmy Richmond being loaded onto a helicopter after being retrieved the day after the battle. He had been shot twice in the chest, but survived.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e20487589e422f9d98f90/1663071207897-3O4V71QXIL4WKFNO0UJS/Pte+Jimmy+Richmond.jpg)
![Part of the battlefield the following day, 19th August.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e20487589e422f9d98f90/1663071209314-GNWPNOI5ILVJ5JRMOV5V/The+Battlefield+the+next+day.jpg)
![Little Pattie performing with Col Joye and the Joy Boys as the Battle of Long Tan is about to erupt.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e20487589e422f9d98f90/1663071367782-TQTGK5Y6A1AX54DGCFEE/LIttle+Pattie.jpg)