My name is Tran Xuan Bahn  

I was born in 1943

 

What was your rank and role in 1968?

In 1968 I was one star one line. 

I supported the leader, the commander to arrange and conduct the battle.

 

What was the size of your force for the attack on the 12 May?

 

The size of my unit of the time was about 300 soliders plus 2 support units.

 

How many were involved in the whole attack?

 

About 300 soliders directly involed in the attack?

 

Who did you think was moving into the area?

 

We were already attacking Americans, so when the foreign troops landed into the area we thought they were Americans. But then when we attacked we found out they were Australians.

 

What was the information that you had about the enemy at the time?

 

When we observe from top level from trees we find that that they land from 9am on the day  and we continued to watch the situation but we didn’t see any foreign troops attack us on the day time. This is  different with the American troops.

 

What was your mission at the time?

 

Our mission at the time was we must attack against the foreign troops immediately. We didn’t want them to have enough time to prepare for the foreign bases.

 

Can I ask a broader question… why wwere you in that area?

 

The Tet Offensive in 1968.. the main forces attack from  inside Saigon. Also attack the foreigners surrounding the city and his edict was to command the outside forces.

 

So you were in the area all the time?

 

My unit came to the area since January 1968.

 

 

 

Who conceived the battle strategy and what were you trying to achieve? Who was the Commander in charge, who conceived the battle attack.

 

He said five names.

 

How did you plan to attack the Australian Base?

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Firstly we sent our military watcher into the area in the afternoon in the late afternoon . We approach very close to the Australian troops area.

Then we have very quick very fast meeting among us to define the attack from every directions and we send some others back to the battle site to report back to higher level to arrange our forces.

 

After that we send weapons first, then we move our troops up the back to the area.

 

Our troops in all direction approached, arrived the are  by 8-9pm and from 8-9pm utill 3.00am the following morning we prepared everything like the shelters and everything for the attack.

 

You shot green tracer into the air. What was the purpose of that?

 

The green tracer was the signal for the official attacks in the whole battle. When the soldiers saw the signal all the soldiers attacked.

 

 

Can you take me through the sequence of events?

 

The attack took place within 20-30 minutes.. it was very fast. Nearly the nighttime before moring, they report to the higher level and decided to withdraw the attack back into the jungle

 

When the sudden attack the Australians troops…. because attacks the of the very sudden Australians troops were very surprised and they didn’t have any strong reactions. They broke into the area, some soldiers and they collected some 40 kinds of weapons.

 

The reason why we must withdraw the troops directly before the daytime… the first thing is to avoid the attacking from the uc da lois and the second thing is to avoid.. they didn’t want the Australian troops to know why way they withdraw into the jungle.

 

How may causalities did they sustain – killed and wounded and how did they get them back?

 

Because the attack was very sudden attack and no strong  reaction from Australian side that’s why number of killed and wounded was very small  about 4 socialist soldiers were killed  and about 10 soldiers wounded – light.

 

What was their specific aim.. they overran the mortars and captured No 6 gun. What were they aiming at?

 

We move all our wounded  and dead soldiers… carried by soldiers. Two soldiers carry one wounded back to the site and during the war we transport everything by soldiers.

 

The very keen, main aim was the situation there  before was to firstly capture the land and the people.. the civilians and villages back to Vietnam… to our society.

 

The second reason to remain enemies in the position and to limit their moving to another locations.

 

So they didn’t have a specific target.. they didn’t want the guns, they didn’t want anything specific, they just wanted….

 

No, they just wanted to keep the foreign troops in that area and to help the Vietnam troops to attack Saigon, attack the city… to remain the troops in the position.

 

So, they wanted to remain in that area, so they wanted to get the Australians out.. is that what he’s saying… (asking interpreter)

 

Before the attack we already attack another American unit and we won the battle. Until we know that this is Australian troops … we can say this is very important to us because it is first time we attack the Australian troops and we won.. the Australian troops must be very afraid of us because of very strong attack from us.

 

In fact our number of troops very small… much smaller than Australia. But we want to withdraw the troops to us because today we stay here, tomorrow move to another place we attack from this point next time we attack from another point. This means the Australian troops know we are very strong, we have many troops.

 

For the second attack, why did you attack from the same position?

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At the second attack, after attacking we knew that still Australian troops still remain there with the support of the American troops. American tanks, artilleries and other equipment. They want to keep the area for them.

 

During the second attack they came in from the same direction, why did they do that?

 

At the second attack we knew very well that the enemy site was very strong with tanks and artillery and bigger number of troops. We still came in by same direction because we knew very well that the enemy site thought we would come from another direction, so this was very sudden attack direction from us and in fact it was a very sudden attack.

 

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How big was the force for the second attack?

 

For the second attack the number of soldiers was below 200… a smaller force.

 

We had need of only of 200 soldiers for this attack, but meanwhile we still have another unit in the surrounding area in case of attacks from American site, this is our reservation troops.

 

What positions did you take up after the attacks?

 

After the first and second attacks we withdraw into the jungle. It was only 7km from the battle field. But we leave very far from the area.

 

We was received the order from higher level to attack the foreign enemy in the area and keep them in the area.

What kind of weapons did you have?

 

We march from north to south and we carry very light weapons on soliders. We use those weapon for the attack in that area.

Goy 81

K75 and

12 point mm – machine gun

 

So this is very light weapon. They didn’t have any heavy weapon.

 

On the 26th, there was another attack on a base to the north, was Mr Bahn involved in that?

 

Another regiment from his division was involved in that. 35…. 165 regiment in that battle.

 

What did you think of the Australian Soldier?

My first thought is that now the Australian troop always the American position to come to Vietnam to help the liberation of Vietnam, but in fact we the Vietnamese don’t need person to liberate country.

 

Australian troop were much much different from American, from Thai from Sth Korean troops; they are very aggressive, they kill people, they arrested people, they have sexual with the ladies.Australian troops were much different they just came, stayed there and their reaction against us very limited. (laughs) So we felt very easy when we attack the Australians.

 

How effective was the artillery and air support that we had on the attack and your withdrawal?

We understood very well our limitation in the forces. We want to minimize the useful of the artillery and air forces from your side. We approached very quick, very closely to the Australian troops, we attack very quick and we withdraw very quick. When the air forces and artillery forces attack us we were in a safety in a safe area already.

 

When we were on the field it is not useful for the enemy artillery forces because we attack very quick and we withdraw in the shelter in safety and when we withdraw into jungle we prepare shelters already to avoid the bombing, artillery attack.

 

So the artillery didn’t have an effect?

When we withdraw very late, when it was getting light and we were recognized by the plane and artillery so we were effected by that.

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