After the party last night we were severely hung over. Intelligence pointed towards a major buildup of Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army forces in the north of Phước Tuy Province.
Abductions and assassinations had increased in the adjacent Long Khanh Province. The Vietcong and North Vietnamese were preparing for the withdrawal of the 1st Australian Task Force from Phước Tuy Province, and were hoping to defeat the Australians.
South Korea had announced the withdrawal of their 48,000 troops by June 1972. We were getting short and lonely.
We moved out of Nui Dat to search east of Xuyen Moc. Riding in an enclosed, hot and smelly APC, with diesel fumes, does nothing for a severe hangover. We said buggar it and rode on top of them. The only thing we had to watch out for here were the ants in the trees; and Dogs Kearney took great delight in shaking them off onto the following APC.
No sooner had we got to our area of operations than we heard that elements of 3/33rd NVA Regiment were infiltrating the area north of Duc Thanh. 4RAR/NZ Battalion would be the sweeping force and 3RAR would be the blocking force. We moved into ambush positions. We sat and waited.
Previously in the Battle of Long Khan we had been the sweeping force and 4RAR/NZ were the blocking force. But we didn't mind swapping roles. We were getting way too short for another major battle.
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