"L'acrobat" wrote in message ...
But they learned and improved whereas Australia did not improve much
at all, save for the SAS since they embraced US style airmobility. The very
low number of kills claimed by Oz infantry speaks louderthan your lame
attempts at cooking up a cover story.

Now it turns out that you are forced to admit that they didn't teach the
Aussies how to do it, your back flip with half pike is amusing to say the
least, the follow on 'but they learned and the Aussies didn't' is laughable
as an attempt to retreat from your earlier gaffe.


Looks like you got all excited and wet yourself over a few initial
encounters of one Australian battalion and two US battalions from
the 173d Airborne. I hate to ruin a surprise for you, but at peak,
there was 81 US Army/USMC infantry battalions and most of them never
had contact with Australian troops in the field.

This will be a blow to your overinflated ego, but the US Air Cavalry
accomplished more in *one summer* than the Australian Task Force did
during their entire stay in Vietnam. From 1 May 1970 to 30 June 1970,
elements of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) amassed a kill ratio
of 2,574 : 157 against the NVA/VC during the invasion of Cambodia.

US units also uncovered massive supply bases used by the 7th NVA
Division, 5th VC Division, 9th VC Division and other units with their
main headquarters located in the Fishhook. Enough rice was seized to
feed 38,000 troops for a year and enough small arms to equip 55 full-
strength VC battalions. The 1st Cavalry took a big chunk of this loot.


Westmoreland never thanked Australia for "pacifying the Phuoc Tuy
Province" or "destroying the 5th VC Division and D445" because
they never did.

General Westmoreland commented on the Australian troops that:
"I have never seen a finer group of men. I have never fought with
a finer group of soldiers".


I have no objections to his few kind words -- but he did not thank
them for pacifying Phuoc Tuy province or destroying 5th VC Division
and D445 -- because they never did.

Remember that the Australian SAS kissed Westmoreland where he sits
when they copied his Recondo School, which L.G. Clark formed at
Ingleburn in November 1960 based on his experience in the USA. Reg
Beeseley conducted nine Australian Recondo courses based on the US
system and thought it was the most realistic part of SAS training.
Australia scored points for brown-nosing Westmoreland.


the difference being that these are credible numbers rather than the
fantasies submitted by US units.


Nope. Hanoi has admitted that over a million Communist troops died
and that exceeds the MACV and CIA body count estimates that Walter
Cronkite once got all lathered up about.

Australian infantry units chipped in only about 1,200 enemy killed
during the entire war. Totally pathetic. The inability of Digger
infantry to close with the more crafty and resourceful VC on a
consistent basis left many an Australian Commander looking like
a cub scout having a temper tantrum. Since Australian infantry
could not find or catch the enemy, their only hope was to let the
enemy come to them, as they did at Long Tan, Coral, Balmoral,
Nui Dat, Xuyen Moc, Binh Gia, etc.

US troops did not have these unfortunate deficiencies. Their swarms
of Huey slicks, gunships and LOH helicopters allowed them to set
up ambushes anywhere, land near the enemy, or land on top of the
enemy at will.


April 1970: Task Force began Operation CONCRETE in the Xuyen
Moc district, Phuoc Tuy province, with the aim of destroying
D445 VC Main Force Battalion and its base areas.

"the sustained effort against D445 and D440 in the period Sept 1969 - Apr
1970 resulted in those units becoming essentially inactive, and subsequently
they were removed from the province for rest, reinforcement and retraining"
D. Horner "Duty First" P.271



I don't disagree with this. But your interpretation is a brand of
faux-confusion parading as intellect. The "sustained effort" by
Australia was really easy since the D445 was reduced to a shell
after Tet-68 and Mini-Tet 68, thanks to US and SVN troops doing the
job on them. The D445 was rebuilt with personnel from the disbanded
D440 VC Battalion.

To get a fix on all the damage done by the ATF, all we have to do is
add up the original and replacement manpower strength of every enemy
division, regiment, battalion, company engaged by the ATF in Vietnam
and then subtract the kills claimed by the ATF. None of those units
were destroyed by Australian forces.


Now tell us about your military experience


Yo, Trailer Park...this act is wearing thin.

Tell us about your military experience -- after you tell us your real
name. We cannot tell if you are male or female. Based on the hissy fits
you always burst into, I would guess the latter.


I couldn't be bothered doing a piece by piece refutation of the rubbish you
post, it's all based on what is at best your total misunderstanding of the
military


Everyone knows that you cannot be bothered with facts.

Why don't you just go to the library and read PHANTOMS of WAR instead
of continuously and baselessly denying the contents of same.