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DUST COVER

A Gunner’s View

Shortly after mid-night on the morning of 13th May, 1968, in a scrubby area just north of Saigon in South Vietnam north of Saigon, a small group of Australian artillery-and mortar men were on the brink of making military history. They were about to face a fire-storm unlike any other that was experienced by Australians in Vietnam before or after them. Their position would be attacked and partially over-run by a large force of well-trained and heavily-armed regular soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army. Outnumbered and out-gunned by the enemy, the Australians would fight back fiercely and eventually prevail in an all-out engagement that was later to be named The Battle of Fire Support Patrol Base Coral.

During the battle the gunners would incur multiple casualties while still managing to provide accurate howitzer support for infantry units under attack nearby. For their actions at Fire Support Patrol Base Coral, the gunners of 12 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA) would subsequently be awarded d a Unit Citation for Gallantry while the 102nd Field Battery, RAA would also receive the Honour Title “Coral”.

This book is the story of that battle as seen through the eyes of a young, untried Lieutenant experiencing his first combat. Placed in charge of a mixed group of green, barely combat-trained regular and conscripted gunners, Lieutenant Ian (Scrubber) Ahearn’s leadership was inspirational. In incident after incident, often hampered by the mistakes, lack of direction and mis-management of many of his superiors, he led strongly and intuitively. Under his guidance, the men of 102nd Field Battery, RAA achieved a great victory against superior forces, with minimal losses of their own.

Trevor Bryant
Gunner
102nd Field Battery RAA

1968

Foreword

I am honoured to be invited to write this Foreword.

At a dinner commemorating the Battle of Coral's 50th Anniversary, I took the liberty of suggesting to the author that he should find the time to record his memory of the events that took place on the night.

I am delighted that Ian has responded to my suggestion. He has produced a stiring account of bravery and inspiring performance of duty.

The author was in a very good position as the Gun Position Officer to give an account of 102 Field Battery's performance. It is one that takes its place in the annals of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery

As readers will learn, there were many external events that went wrong on this operation well outside of Phuoc Tuy Province in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive. Firstly, there was confusion at the regimental level, and a gross failure to coordinate the various reconnaissance parties. Then the fly in of the guns was late because of higher priorities elsewhere. Defence stores delivered to the gun area were minimal, the Battery bulldozer was late in its arrival on the position, and Battery defences were far from complete. To round things off, some of the indivisual contributions were affected by the seriousness of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) onslaught.

None-the-less there is much to be proud of in the successful defence of the gun position against an aggressive NVA force. As for most engagements, it had its moments, but with outstanding leadership, especially by the detachment commanders, the defence prevailed. There were some outstanding performances, starting from the author himself, other officers and the man who had the bravery to drive a Landrover forward with ammunition and return it riddled with bullet holes.

Subsequently several of the Non Commissioned Officers were to work for me. They were modest, and at last they have had their story told. I only wish that earlier I knew of Ray Dial's and Peter Riley's bravery at Coral.

I warmly commend this book and congratulate Ian for finding the time and effort to compile it. The book is a worthy addition to the history of Gunners in the Vietnam War.

Major General (Retd) Steve Gower AO, AO (Mil)
Director, Australian War Memoria, 1996 - 2012

Emai Review

Ian, I just wanted to drop you a note to say how moved and engrossed I have been in reading your account of events at Coral

As an FO with A Company 1RAR we were somewhat ‘distant’ on the first attack of the 13th only coping our turn on the 16th back at FSPB Coral by then.

Until reading your account I had no solid understanding of how the night of the 13th panned out. The story about Peter Riley making ammo deliveries in his jeep is quite astounding (and a travesty that his actions were ignored by the powers that be).

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