"Vietnam: Common Enemies of the Anzacs?" Topic

I am looking at finishing my Vietnam figure collection, but I don't quite know what the Anzacs were primarily dealing with. PAVN, VC, Main Force VC, etc. I am using 15s and Battlefront is the likely manufacturer.

Oh, and I don't plan on fielding much more than a platoon, but the BF figures seem to be a good value compared to the other offerings. If you have alternate figure suggestions as well that would be appreciated.

So if I had to start with one enemy force, any ideas?

Main force and local VC were their main opponents.

This is a great resource – the documentary is good and the Resources section invaluable.

battleoflongtan.com

Not the Anzacs per se, but during the 6-way civil war in Saigon over the presidency c.'63-'64, the Buddhist Temples faction hired Australian Mercenaries primarily to fight against the faction of the Catholic Army Generals.

Thanks for the info and link Nick!

mini – That sounds incredibly interesting.

Hi miniMo, I've never heard of this .. do you have a reference for this event.???

I'd also suggest Flashpoint miniatures for 15mm. If you are planning on just one platoon a 'Mainforce VC' platoon could proxy as PAVN and Local VC without having to purchase other figs. Flashpoint has (by far) the biggest range of figures for VC (local and Mainforce) and PAVN .

Don't forget Peter Pig too.

Most of the ANZ contacts were against Mainforce VC or local VC in support of Mainforce VC moving through the area. There were a few PAVN contacts , but the suggestion is after the battle of Long Tan (1966) and a few other larger engagements the communists avoided the ANZ in Phuoc Tuy province. So much so that in 1968 (not that long after the Tet offensive) the Aussies were operating out of the area in support of other operations (eg. battle of Coral-Balmoral FSBs vs lots and lots of PAVN. )

hope this helps .

I am about to purchase some Flashpoint figures. Thanks for heads up! I knew about them, but totally spaced out for some reason. Their figures look great and perfect for this project.

As a side note, what book or books are recommended on the subjects of ANZACS? I came across them after a Veteran I know talked about them and did some internet research which kicked off the project. Odd I chose this as all of my knowledge and books dedicated to Vietnam are from the American perspective. Ha!

By far and away I'd recommend Paul Ham's "Vietnam ; the Australian War ". ..it's a bit intimidating looking (thick), but reads very well and covers all aspects of the Australian experience, including the AATTV .
There are many good shorter books and personal perspectives too.

I have heard the same as capt jimmi posted. Mostly VC but PAVN/NVA after Tet.

cpt jimmi – I will grab this book for sure then. I am not shy about big books. One advantage for "veteran" history college students!

Edit – My goodness this book is pricey!

If you are looking for books on the Aussies, you can do no better than the Official History volumes, each very substantial, from Australian War Memorial and published by Allen & Unwin. There are 3 volumes, each of around 600 pages, dealing specifically with ground operations.

NB, they are not cheap!

There is also a book on Coral, which I cann't put my hand on at the moment for the proper title but a google search on Amazon might bring it up.

If you're a GI Joe fan the Dreadnoks (donut eating, grape soda skulling, motorbike riding dirtbags) were based on Australian diggers the writer of GI Joe: A Real American Hero, Larry Hama, had encountered during his service in Vietnam in the US Army. You could probably replace donuts and grape soda with Violet Crumbles and VB beer (2 can ration a day in the Australian Army) in real life though…hey Joe was a comic written for American kids after all..Yo Joe!