Peter Edwards - Australia and the Vietnam War

AUSTRALIA AND THE VIETNAM WAR

PETER EDWARDS is the Official Historian and general editor of the nine-volume Official History of Australias Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 19481975. He is also the author of the volumes dealing with politics, strategy and diplomacy, Crises and Commitments (1992) and A Nation at War (1997). His other books and monographs include Robert Marsden Hope and Australian Public Policy (2011), Arthur Tange: Last of the Mandarins (2006), Permanent Friends? Historical Reflections on the Australian-American Alliance (2005), and Prime Ministers and Diplomats (1983). Currently an Adjunct Professor at the Alfred Deakin Research Institute of Deakin University, he is a Member of the Order of Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, and a former Trustee of the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.

AUSTRALIA AND THE VIETNAM WAR

PETER EDWARDS

A NewSouth book

Published by

NewSouth Publishing

University of New South Wales Press Ltd

University of New South Wales

Sydney NSW 2052

AUSTRALIA

newsouthpublishing.com

Australian War Memorial

First published 2014

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Title: Australia and the Vietnam War/Peter Edwards.

ISBN: 9781742232744 (hardback)

ISBN: 9781742241678 (ePub/Kindle)

ISBN: 9781742246697 (ePDF)

Notes: Includes index and bibliography.

Subjects: Vietnam War, 19611975.

Vietnam War, 19611975 Participation, Australian.

Vietnam War, 19611975 Australia.

Dewey Number: 959.7043394

Design Di Quick

Cover images FRONT A section of soldiers from C Company, 2RAR/NZ (ANZAC), taking part in the battalions final operation in Phuoc Tuy province in May 1971 before returning to Australia later in the month. Carrying the sections M60 machine gun is Private Ray Beattie (left) of St Kilda, Victoria. (John Alfred Ford, 1971; AWM FOD/71/0258A/VN)

All reasonable efforts were taken to obtain permission to use copyright material reproduced in this book, but in some cases copyright could not be traced. The author welcomes information in this regard.

CONTENTS

AUSTRALIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 195460

PREFACE

I n January 1965 the Australian government decided to send an infantry battalion to Borneo to help Britain and its Commonwealth partners to secure Malaysias borders from Indonesian incursions. Three months later the government announced that it would send another battalion overseas, this time to help another powerful ally, the United States, to protect another Southeast Asian country, the Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as South Vietnam), against the threat posed by insurgents supported by the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). The commitment to Borneo ended within two years, during which time the threat to the integrity and security of Malaysia was successfully overcome; it cost little blood or treasure; it was met by deploying service personnel, almost all of whom had enlisted voluntarily; it had bipartisan support in Parliament; its wisdom was seldom challenged; its operations were largely conducted in secret; and, although it had been a major concern for policy-makers, the media and the general public in the early 1960s, it was quickly forgotten by most Australians. By contrast, the commitment to Vietnam lasted more than seven years (or ten, if one starts with the commitment of a team of advisers in 1962), making it Australias longest overseas conflict in the 20th century and the largest and most costly other than the two world wars; it did not prevent the downfall of the Republic of Vietnam ten years later; it was maintained partly by deploying conscripts, chosen by a highly controversial, selective ballot of men too young to vote; its wisdom and morality were challenged by an increasing number of Australians, provoking deep divisions in Australian society and politics; it was linked to bitter, worldwide controversies that remained prominent for decades; and for years afterwards it was identified with strategic, diplomatic, military, political and social failure and ineptitude.

This book seeks to explain how and why Australia became involved in the Vietnam War (more accurately but less commonly known as the Second Indochina War); how Australian forces fought the war; how the war affected Australian society and politics; and how Vietnam and the Vietnam era left enduring legacies on Australian politics, society, strategy and diplomacy. It says much about Australias alliance with the United States in a conflict widely seen as a hot war within the global Cold War. But it also shows that Australias commitment to the Vietnam War was in many ways different from that of the United States. The strategic concerns, diplomatic style and operational methods of a global superpower located in the northern hemisphere were markedly different from those of a middle-sized regional power, adjacent to Southeast Asia. This book puts the Australian commitment in the context of Australias relations with Southeast Asia in the decades after the end of the Second World War, with special reference to Australias involvement in two other conflicts in the region, the Malayan Emergency of 194860 and the Indonesian Confrontation of 196366. It explains why Australias Southeast Asian conflicts in the third quarter of the 20th century have been described both as wars of diplomacy (referring particularly to alliance diplomacy) and as wars of decolonisation.

This book is not part of the Official History of Australias Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 19481975, but it relies heavily on the information and arguments found in the nine volumes of that series of which, as Official Historian, I was general editor and author of the two volumes dealing with politics, strategy and diplomacy. While I draw most heavily from those two volumes and the three by Ian McNeill and Ashley Ekins on the Australian Army in Vietnam, I have also made substantial use of the information and insights provided by the authors of the other four volumes: Peter Dennis and Jeffrey Grey on Australian operations in the Malayan Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation; Brendan OKeefe on medical aspects of the three conflicts, with an essay by FB Smith on the Agent Orange debate; Chris Coulthard-Clark on the Royal Australian Air Force in Vietnam; and Jeffrey Grey on the Royal Australian Navy throughout the whole period. Readers familiar with the tradition of Australian official war histories might regard this as the counterpart for the Southeast Asian conflicts to CEW Beans Anzac to Amiens or Gavin Longs The Six Years War. That is to say, it is a relatively short history of Australias involvement in a conflict (in this case, several conflicts), written by the Official Historian who was responsible for a multi-volume history of that involvement.

While this book draws heavily on the Official History, it aims to meet some contemporary requirements. Seven of the nine volumes of the Official History were published in the 1990s. While they have stood up well to the scrutiny of commentators and scholars in subsequent years, it is clearly appropriate to draw on more recent publications and commentaries. Moreover, this book is written primarily for a 21st-century readership, for whom the Vietnam era is remote and whose awareness of military affairs is framed by Australias involvement in more recent conflicts, particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor. It addresses some of the principal questions that readers with no personal knowledge of the Vietnam era now ask: Why was there a war in Vietnam? How and why did Australia come to be involved? What was the domino theory and did it have any validity? Was Australia simply paying a premium for the strategic insurance provided by the AustralianAmerican alliance? Was Australia really all the way with the United States in its commitment to the Vietnam War? What was the nature of the Australian military involvement, including the relationships between the Australians and their American, New Zealand and South Vietnamese allies, and between regulars and national servicemen? Which elements of the three services were involved and how well did they perform operationally? Why did many Australians protest against conscription and the war? What have been some of the enduring legacies of the commitment and the lessons that Australians have drawn from the experience?