The last stand , 20th anniversary

[jack404]

17th June 1982

a patrol of 3 heavy fire teams ( 30 men) where patroling outside siem sak in the North of cambodia when they where attacked by a KR force of 600 est ,

after a furious firefight and with dwindling ammo the team leader gave the command

Fix Bayonets

and the Last Bayonet Charge in History was started

30 Australian troops went into it

26 came through it

and later recovered their fallen brothers

[Brass Tacks]

brave men, all

[geds]

Wow! I can't imagine what they must've been thinking.....

[76Highboy]

Honorable and impressive.

[BlackEagle]

Sounds like the Spartans at Thermopylae. Bravery in the extreme. I hope they were well honoured.

[whymememe]

Against all odds, them Aussies are tough as nails. I'm glad you are on our side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ow3jUVHZ74

[jack404]

well bugger me look at the typo in the heading , it's 30 years ago , man i'm getting old , pic's from the service coming up

[permafrost]

well bugger me look at the typo in the heading , it's 30 years ago , man i'm getting old , pic's from the service coming up

Pics would be good and well appreciated, Jack. There just isn't all that much out there about the Aussies in Cambodia. You find tons about Pol Pot and the Kymer Rouge, but little about who was fighting them.

[jack404]

the hassle is technically Pol Pot was the US ally and folks dont like to admit the USA and Oz where fighting each other , ( or the KR giving your guys directions where to bomb , your guys not asking what the target was or how ever the PC types will put it )

but the stupid thing was we had your folks helping out early on .. the post about the book on the early days i posted has pics of the US SF's gents i had the privilege to work with ..

politics , too much BS for me to swallow

[permafrost]

the hassle is technically Pol Pot was the US ally and folks dont like to admit the USA and Oz where fighting each other , ( or the KR giving your guys directions where to bomb , your guys not asking what the target was or how ever the PC types will put it )

but the stupid thing was we had your folks helping out early on .. the post about the book on the early days i posted has pics of the US SF's gents i had the privilege to work with ..

politics , too much BS for me to swallow

I guess I missed the post. I'll dig it up. Makes me kinda sick about the US against the Aussies via Politics. Didn't know that either. I think we're mushrooms over here sometimes. The only real world news I get is off the net. I didn't know what I didn't know!

[jack404]

frosty theres rumour about what happened ,, but the folks who where there know what was what , but the politics of it is such we dont known what to do or say , if theb facts are published will the USA punish those involved in helping the Aussies ( and we got lot's) or will they make scapegoats outta others ??

who knows , and thats the biggest issue , look what happened over Timor .. the US wanted to hang the blokes who trained the indo militia's but indonesia was a US ally too then ( who set out to invade all the other places around them ) it was not the instructors fault but the US gave em over to the UN .. 25 years after the facts

thankfully the east timorese stated they did not see the US folks as a issue but then Indo wanted them to pay so their folks could claim innocents and obozo said ok

Guzmahl then threw the charges out ( east timorese president and not a bad guy )

that the only reason those folks walked ,, your government was gonna let em swing

[permafrost]

And ... Something else I've not heard about. AM I guilty of not following enough or are we just not hearing any of these things? Damn!

[whymememe]

If it were not for the internet, I'd be lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_%E2%80%93_United_States_relations

[jack404]

The Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the KR to retain their seat at the UN. The seat was occupied by Thiounn Prasith, an old cadre of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary from their student days in Paris and one of the 21 attendees at the 1960 KPRP Second Congress. The seat was retained under the name 'Democratic Kampuchea' until 1982 and then 'Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea' until 1993.
According to journalist Elizabeth Becker, former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said that in 1979, "I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him, but China could."[14] Brzezinski has denied this, writing that the Chinese were aiding Pol Pot "without any help or encouragement from the United States."[15]
China, the U.S., and other Western countries opposed an expansion of Vietnamese and Soviet influence in Indochina, and refused to recognize the People's Republic of Kampuchea as the legitimate government of Cambodia, claiming that it was a puppet state propped up by Vietnamese forces. China funneled military aid to the Khmer Rouge, which in the 1980s proved to be the most capable insurgent force, while the U.S. publicly supported a non-Communist alternative to the PRK; in 1985, the Reagan administration approved $5 million in aid to the republican KPNLF, led by former prime minister Son Sann, and the ANS, the armed wing of the pro-Sihanouk FUNCINPEC party.
The KPNLF, while lacking in military strength compared to the Khmer Rouge, commanded a sizable civilian following (up to 250,000) amongst refugees near the Thai-Cambodian border that had fled the KR regime. Funcinpec had the benefit of traditional peasant Khmer loyalty to the crown and Sihanouk's widespread popularity in the countryside.
In practice, the military strength of the non-KR groups within Cambodia was minimal, though their funding and civilian support was often greater than the KR. The Thatcher and Reagan administrations both supported the insurgents covertly, with weapons, and military advisors in the form of Green Berets and Special Air Service units, who taught sabotage techniques in camps just inside Thailand.
Critics such as Human Rights Watch alleged that U.S. policy was contradictory; while claiming to not support the Khmer Rouge, the U.S. continually supported UN recognition of the shadow Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK, formed in 1982) as the legitimate Cambodian government, despite the fact that the tripartite alliance included the Khmer Rouge. The U.S. government stated it would bolster the position of groups not under the control of the Vietnamese-supported government (including the Khmer Rouge) through humanitarian and military aid.[16][17][18]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia

[whymememe]

Jack, I found the interesting documentary about the Australian's and the Battle of Long Tan 1966. It's a long one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=8gUSq7pxux4&feature=endscreen

[jack404]

i've mates who where there , before my time , stuff legends are made of eh ..

Long Tan
along with the chosin resevoir
villers bretonneux
Gallipoli

shows what a few good men can do ..

[whymememe]

For sure.

[jack404]

Kapyong

8 of the blokes at Long Tan where also here ..