Australia had reasons for wanting to join the Vietnam War, quite apart from considerations of South Vietnamese sovereignty. It was considered necessary to maintain good relations with our alliance partners the United) and constituted a critical step in maintaining a defense. Initially, Australia provided financial support to the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), and when widespread conflict became more widespread, Australia provided military advisers. The United States, who had been keen "observers" of the conflict, soon committed itself to military intervention and Australia wished to show her support. The problem was, that the South Vietnamese government was not so convinced of the utility of Australia's presence. How was Australia to solve this dilemma?
             The official and propagated account of Australia's decision to enter the Vietnam War holds that Australia, at the behest of the South Vietnamese government, and together with the noble American nation entered (reluctantly) into war, to safeguard the world from communist peril. Vietnam constituted Australia's longest involvement in a war and the first confrontation in which involvement was not always viewed as a simple logical process. The Australian troop force in Vietnam builds up steadily in the years 1965-1967. Even before this Australia deployed military advisers, and sent aid to the South Vietnamese government. The actual Australian contingent was minor in comparison to force sizes of other allied countries. Additionally, it was predominantly located in an area that was perceived as being of critical strategic importance for the overall war.
             Australia's presence was concentrated around a small area of Vietnam, Phuoc Tuy province. Here, the majority of Australian regular and national service troops were located, together with New Zealand troops, thus forming the integrated ANZAC force. Conflict in the area reached proportions that were not initially envisaged by the Australian ...