Big enemy camps found destroyed DPR/TV/1150

Australian infantry soldiers on a special short operation in Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam, have found three large permanent rest and recreation villages and staging areas in the east as well as a nine-mile long cornfield on a firetrail in the north. The soldiers are members of the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Khan, said the operation had been designed to find and destroy the enemy and his installations in the area east of the Task Force base at Nui Dat. It had been very successful in finding and destroying his base sites, but there was practically no fighting. He described the base camps as the most sophisticated found in a long time and the firetrail cornfield and vegetable garden as producing sufficient to meet the requirements of a sizeable fighting unit in these products for a long time. Two of the villages were blown up by engineers, the third destroyed by air strike and the firetrail will be defoliated. (NB: Have started from shot 4 to keep the story simple, but you might be able to work in the Chinook sequence as it is seldom used in the role of a recce aircraft. The pilot had been ferrying troops and equipment into the new FSB when he thought he saw a VC dressed in black disappear into a tunnel so he went in for a closer look and threw smoke so that APCS could move in to clear the site.) The five-day operation involved only two of the battalion's rifle companies, Alpha and Delta Companies, and supporting units. Delta Company, commanded by Major Murray Blake of Midlands, Perth, WA, formed up at the new fire support base Elaine for the operation. Major Blake briefs his officers on the route to be followed and what to look for before the move out on foot. The company found the three camps, two on the third day of the operation and the third on the fourth day. Eleven Platoon found this camp cunningly concealed in thick jungle and swept through it in fighting formation, but it had been deserted only days before. About 20 well-made huts were found, most of them with big bunker systems underneath as protection for the occupants from gunfire and bombs. The platoon commander, 2nd Lieutenant John Russell of Kellerberrin, WA, informs Major Blake by radio of the find and Major Blake moves from his location to see for himself and to decide what action to take. He brings in with him a Vietnamese Army sergeant, nicknamed Fred, who had been a Vietcong prisoner and who escaped only days earlier after bashing his guard to death. He was flown in by helicopter to help with the search as he had been in the camps in the area. The 2IC of the company, Capt Tim Britten of Killara, Sydney, NSW, quizzes Fred on the village and he says he stayed in this one for two hours during his seven months captivity. When the infantry finish their search of the village and its bunker system, Major Blake decides to have it blown up. An engineer splinter team travelling with the company begins an assessment of the amount of explosive required and a seven man combat engineer team is called in with the explosive to do the job. The engineers waste no time in preparing the explosive, setting the charges and laying out the detonation cord. A total of 180 lbs of explosive is laid, the aim being to totally wreck the village and make it useless for future occupation. While the engineers go about their task, the infantry are wrecking and burning those houses which don't have bunkers to complete the job. Five hours after the sweep into the village, the infantry and engineers move out. The engineer splinter team has the honour of setting and lighting the 10-minute fuse and they too then move to safety. The silence of the jungle is shattered by the explosion which razes the village. The jungle cover is torn away by the blast and the village which has been a rest centre for war-weary Vietcong is no more. Also identified: Private Pat Walker of Caboolture, Qld with Caesar, a black labrador tracker dog; Cpl John Sayer of Clearview, Adelaide, SA; Pte Ross Shields of Morley, Perth, WA; Corporal John Burridge of Claremont, WA; CSM WO2 George Smith of Northcliffe, WA; Capt Tony Poole of Hughesdale, Melbourne, Vic; Sapper Greg Barnsley of Lismore, NSW; Corporal John Coe of Como, Perth, WA; Pte Ashley Weymouth of Koorda, WA.