Battle of Coral

by Lex Mcauley and McAulay

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099659301
• ISBN13: 9780099659303
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: Random House (UK)
• Length: 361 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Australians in Combat At Fire Support Base Coral May 1968

The Arabs have a saying"the courage of your enemy does you honor". This book is about the courage and the honor of Australian soldiers in combat with VC/NVA battalions at Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral in May of 1968. For twenty six days in May and June 1968,units of the 1st Australian Task Force fought a series of actions around Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral,north-east of Saigon. They moved into an area the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong had almost made their own - and,literally almost overnight,had to adapt to a very different style of warfare. From a war of patrolling and ambushing,the Australian forces were confronted with an enemy who actively came looking for a fight; where tanks proved their worth (after almost twenty years in the military wilderness); and where gunners fought close-combat actions in defence of their guns (at the same time providing artillery support to the infantry around them). And there are the individual stories of bravery,compassion and humour; the officer who stood in full view of the enemy to direct machinegun fire; the machinegunner who arrested a North Vietnamese soldier in the middle of the fighting,rather than killing him; and the typical'Digger'who,in a period of calm amidst the chaos,listened to the race results on Radio Australia. The Battle of Coral was fought by the Australian soldiers engaged in it with their renowned courage,initiative and professionalism that saw them victorious against an enemy that vastly outnumbered them. This book is a must read for those readers with an interest in Australian Military History.