FIRE SUPPORT BASE ‘ CORAL’
From late May 1968 , the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment,
with 102 Field Battery and 161 Field Battery RNZA fought a series of battles from
the Fire Support Bases of ‘Coral’ and ‘Balmoral’ against a formidable force of
North Vietnamese soldiers. Some of the actions fought here were the largest
encountered by the Australians during the Vietnam War. These bases were our little
pieces of Australia deliberately set in place in the path of the enemy to deter them from
using these direct supply routes to and from Saigon.
A TRILOGY IN CONFLICT
FIRE SUPPORT BASE ‘CORAL’
1. THE INITIAL ATTACK
Darkness screened the swelling tide
Which amplified in force
Then rose as waves upon the sea
To rush their headlong course.
Across a stretch of No Mans Land
Through killing fields they swept
A screaming horde of faceless men
Who ran, or walked and crept.
Then bursts of fire broke their drive
And they milled – uncertain there
But some pursued there reckless surge
Through austere light of flare
And as the small arms crackled
Machineguns joined the fray
And rockets burst across the sky
To turn night into day.
From every pit and shell-scrape
Our gunners took control
As battles raged on every side
And the conflict took its toll.
Bright green tracer crossed the sky
But soon switched off again
As fire from the miniguns
Spat down like crimson rain.
The gunships pounced on everything
That moved within their sights.
Their flaring rockets crashing home
As red tracer filled the night.
And every 105 in range
Was firing in support
With 3RAR Mortars joining in
To play this deadly sport.
But 102 was not done yet
Its guns were still in play.
They fired now from open sights
And the splintex whooshed away.
So the night rolled like a movie
Filled with characters – gaunt and stark
And a handful of vigilant diggers
Played their roles out in the dark.
Then as dawn broke – the fighting ebbed
And the enemy trickled away
Into the trees to the north and the east
Escaping the light of day.
The clearing patrols that swept the front
Baulked about where they should tread.
For the scene of the battle, resembled a beach
With its shoreline littered with dead.
And the sun raised its head over ‘Coral’
On the carnage sustained in the fight.
On the backs of the gunners – bent over the mud,
Digging in for another long night.
FIRE SUPPORT BASE ‘CORAL’
THE SECOND ATTACK
Like pigeons to a loft they came
As silent as the falling rain
Forming up along the ditch
Impatient for that final pitch.
Across the rolling stretch of grass
Diggers wish the night would pass
As tell-tale signals in the sky
Illuminate – then fade and die.
Then mortars fall around the base
A moderate/heavy attack takes place
Rockets fly amongst the trees
As machineguns seek adversaries.
And then they come in groups of three
The same AKs and RPGs
Behind them lining up so brave
The first assault – and second wave
Flares and tracer light the sky
As troops on both sides fight and die
And salvos from the fire missions
Seek and deal their retribution.
Machineguns steadily chip away
Through surging mass of NVA
And one by one they topple down
To pile as leaves upon the ground.
Then Spooky and the gunships came
Rockets and miniguns gushing flame
And bright red tracer falls as rain
As back and forth they sweep again.
Two HMGs have been detected
But both it seems are well-protected.
A jet is called to lend assistance
Its napalm ending all resistance.
And then two other jets fly by
Dropping napalm on the wire
Then turning strafe the NVA
Who stand no chance to win the day.
Inside the base the APCs
Make furtive runs for casualties.
Taking ammo on their rounds
To pass around the battleground.
Our gunners have to work non-stop
The barrels of their guns run hot.
But every gun is kept in play
As round on round is fired away.
Then D Company takes the final thrust
A battalion-charge through smoke and dust.
But still the Company ranks stand fast
To fight determined – to the last.
Now dawn is creeping on the scene
And everything becomes serene
The enemy now drift away
As night returns to light of day.
And weary diggers move around
As they survey the battleground
The smell of death is in the air
And flies are buzzing everywhere.
The battle for ‘Coral’ has been won
The enemy are on the run.
But this could be a small respite.
Perhaps they’ll come again tonight!
FIRE SUPPORT BASE ‘BALMORAL’
3. THE NIGHT ATTACKS
The diggers were edgy, expecting a fight
As tracer and small arms dissected the night
The primaries sounded at half after three
And mortars began landing in each Company.
The bugles then sounded an attack to begin
And rockets and rifles were fired within
A lone Bangalore punched a hole in the wire
And the battle commenced as our claymores were fired.
But this probing was weak, and virtually ceased
As the main thrust was mounted from north and northeast
Where machineguns and mortars fired into the base
And the action increased at an incredible pace.
As the last flares were dying, the enemy advanced.
Platoons fanning out as they made good their chance.
But the ‘arty’ was zeroed in right on the wire
And the attackers were caught in this terrible fire.
The gunships above also entered the fray
Their machineguns and rockets now hammered away,
Adding their weight to the Infantry force
Which vented its fury with relentless resource.
Centurion tanks also stood in the path
And their huge 20 pounders soon warmed to the task.
While Spooky sought targets around the northeast.
Where the enemy mortars had first been released.
But a lull then occurred to let Dustoff fly in
And the NVA ordered withdrawal to begin.
By first light the diggers were clearing the ground
But only found silence and death all around.
A second attack – two day later began
But nothing at all had been changed in the plan.
Down the same corridor as they had in the first
And the same wire breached – as the bangalores burst.
But our tanks soon responded with canister shell
And the enemy ranks just crumbled and fell.
While the mortars and rockets and small arms poured in
And our own fire missions compounded the din.
There were tracer and flashes, as flares burst on high
Where a Spooky and gunships fired down from the sky.
The noise from the action confounded the brain
With the passage of shells passing by like a train.
But the enemy regrouped and were facing the fire
As wave after wave poured down on the wire.
The main thrust were racing across open ground.
And these were the targets the gunners took down.
Many sought refuge in any craters they found.
Escape from the tempest that flew all around.
These little groups were the hardest to budge.
A hand grenade often would settle the grudge.
The RPG rockets were still coming fast
While the arty and mortars continued to blast
Then a red flare was fired as a sign of withdrawal
And the enemy moved back at a slow even crawl.
As first light approached, the wire was sprung
And two heavy tanks went through at the run.
Clearing the open space up to the trees
Returning with prisoners – eager to please.
So a chapter had closed on this phase of the war
And the actions they fought were forgotten once more.
But still there are some who took part on that day
Hear the sounds of a battle that will not go away!
Bill Charlton c 2000
