Facts and Figures About the Battle of Long Tan
As part of the work behind this project, I undertook more than 2 years of extensive research in order to ensure accuracy of our “The Battle of Long Tan” documentary and the upcoming “Long Tan” feature film. To help us inform the media about the facts and figures surrounding the battle we developed a simple .PDF document with all the information.
Click on this link to download The Battle of Long Tan Fact Sheet (.pdf document).
Here is just a sample of some of the Facts & Figures:
- 18 killed (17 from D Coy, 6RAR and 1 from 3Trp, 1APC Squadron)
- 21 wounded
A wounded Corporal Buddy Lea from, 10 Platoon, D Company in hospital shortly after the battle. He was shot twice while helping the injured Sgt Paddy Todd back to the D Company aid post.
NVA and VC
- 245- 800 killed (245 bodies officially counted on the battlefield but many more bodies were found over two weeks after the battle and VC tactics were to remove the dead so no accurate counts could be made.)
- More than 1,000 wounded (Identified from captured documents)
- 2 wounded NVA soldiers were captured on the battlefield
- 1 wounded VC soldier was captured on the battlefield
- 105 soldiers from D Coy, 6RAR, Australian Army
- 3 man New Zealand Forward Artillery Observation party, 161 Bty RNZA
- Total 108 men
- 1,600 soldiers from VC, 275 Main Force Regiment + support elements
- 500 soldiers from North Vietnamese Army, 45 Regiment + support elements
- 550 soldiers from VC, D445 Battalion + support elements
- Total 2,650+ men
Ramping up Development on our Long Tan Movie
We are ramping up development of the ‘Long Tan’ movie with a view to having a completed film released in late 2011 or at the latest for ANZAC day 2012.
This is not to say that we haven’t been doing anything for the past 6 years having produced the critically acclaimed and award winning ‘Battle of Long Tan’ documentary and all the publicity around the 40th Anniversary back in August 2006 and of course much more behind the scenes!
On set on our award winning Battle of Long Tan documentary.
We now feel the time is right and that we’ve established enough of a basic foundation of awareness across the media and film industry about the story to now move things forward more aggresively.
We are currently pulling together the development, production and marketing plans along with timelines covering the next 17-21 months.
Most of what we do over the next 7 months will be behind the scenes from a financing and development point of view but we will be releasing key information on a regular basis as we move forward.
When I begin to feel impatient I remind myself of the nine year development timeline for the award winning Australian film, ‘Shine’ in which Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for best actor and the film went on to take more than $100m at the box office and DVD. As they say, “Patience is a virtue”.
Onwards and upwards, Martin Walsh – Producer.
A chance to walk the Long Tan battlefield with a Long Tan veteran
Members of the RAR Association need no introduction to the Battle of Long Tan. After all, it’s a Battle Honour on their Colours and its anniversary was selected as Australia’s Vietnam Veterans’ Day. And over the years, one of the key resources in describing and explaining the battle has been Dave Sabben, the former platoon commander of 12 Platoon, Delta Company, 6RAR, at the battle.
“Dave at Nui Dat Oct09” – Dave Sabben, former 12 Platoon commander at Long Tan, explains the layout of the 1ATF base at Nui Dat with SAS Hill in the background.
Dave has been interviewed for all the documentaries and books on the subject including the official Military History of Australia’s involvement in South East Asia, “To Long Tan”, and the recent highly acclaimed and award winning documentary screened on The History Channel, “The Battle of Long Tan“ narrated by Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator Salvation). He has even written his own “faction” book, “Through Enemy Eyes”, which takes the perspective of the NVA commander in Phuoc Tuy Province when the ANZACs arrived. It explains why there was a need to wipe out the Nui Dat base and the steps taken to achieve that aim. (The book demolishes the so-called ambush theory proposed by some in the late 1980s.)
If you’ve seen the animated Powerpoint presentation on Long Tan, that’s Dave’s work too, and if you haven’t seen it, then it’s available for free download from his website.
You’d wonder what else he could do in an effort to inform interested Australians about the battle. Well, last year a new idea came from an unlikely source – the Australia Vietnam Volunteers Resource Group (AVVRG).
Battle of Long Tan Documentary – Artillery Behind the Scenes
Here is some video I filmed behind the scenes while we shot footage of Artillery firing in New Zealand for my Battle of Long Tan documentary with the 16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery on the 23rd June 2006 at the Linton Army base.
It was actually minus 3 degrees Celsius this day and Palmerston North had the worst snow storm in living memory the day before we scheduled to film these scenes. These amazing gunners actually did the scene recreations for the entire day in the freezing cold with cold water being poured over them from an Army fire truck!
Capt. Morrie Stanley who was the Forward Artillery Observer during the Battle of Long Tan was there with us while we filmed which really spurred on the NZ gunners!
The Artillery piece is a M101A1 105mm L1A1 Howitzer and it was firing blanks.
Just imagine that 18 of these artillery guns were each firing 6-8 rounds per minute for more than 5 hours non stop in a lightning monsoon storm in support of D Company 5km’s away in the heat of the battle!
Movie Marketing Magic: Top Hollywood Digital Marketers Coming to Sydney
I was very honoured to be approached by SPAA* to create and lead a session on Reaching Your Audience in this era of Digital & Social Media Marketing for the 2009 SPAA Conference in Sydney between 17-20 November. I am now happy to announce that I have secured two awesome new media / digital marketers from Hollywood to help me:
- Gordon Paddison** – Principal, Stradella Road & former Executive Vice President New Media, New Line Pictures (District 9, Lord of The Rings trilogy, Snakes on a Plane, Austin Powers and many more & Variety’s Integrated Marketer of the Year” Award in 2005)
- Stephanie Bohn** – Director of Worldwide Marketing, Digital Distribution Warner Bros (The Dark Knight, Sex and the City, Hangover, Harry Potter and many more)
*SPAA – Screen Producers Association Australia
**Detailed bio’s outlined below.
Nui Dat Kindergarten Vietnam Charity Dinner
There is a great 100% volunteer organisation called the Australian Vietnam Veterans Reconstruction Group (AVVRG) holding an upcoming charity dinner in Sydney at Parliament House on Friday 14th August 2009 to raise money for building a Kindergarten in Nui Dat, South Vietnam.
Guests of honour will be:
Dave Sabben MG – Commander of 12 Platoon during the Battle of Long Tan
Patricia Amphlett OAM (Little Pattie) – singer who was 17 years old at the time of the Battle of Long Tan performing on stage at the Australian base in Nui Dat as the battle began some 4 km’s away
Col Joye AM – another singer who was performing alongside Little Pattie at Nui Dat as the Battle of Long Tan began.
I urge anybody interested in supporting our veterans and the very kind and hospitable people of Nui Dat in Vietnam (this is where the Australian Task Force was based during the Vietnam War) to attend.
Details are:
Date: Friday 14th August 2009
Address: NSW Parliamentary Dining Room, Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Time: 7.00pm
Dress: Lounge suit, medals
Cost: $100 per person or $900.00 per table
More details and bookings here.
Long Tan Movie Screen Australia Development Application
Well, we have submitted a feature film development application to Screen Australia late last week. The purpose of this application is to begin to secure funds for the formal development stages of the porject.
Here are some shots outlining the depth of the submission required:
 
Did you miss the Long Tan story on 60 Minutes?
For those of you who may have never seen the moving story we helped 60 Minutes (Australia) organise for the Battle of Long Tan 40th Anniversary back in August 2006, here is the video and background:
Emotional 60 Minutes story on the Battle of Long Tan from Red Dune Films on Vimeo.
Introducing the Battle of Long Tan team
I wanted to introduce you to the team behind our upcoming movie, Long Tan based upon the true story of The Battle of Long Tan.Â
First of all there is me, Martin Walsh! I produced the ASTRA award winning and TV Week Logie Award Nominated documentary on the Battle of Long Tan for The History Channel in Australia and New Zealand. I am also a senior marketing executive specialising in digital marketing and social influence marketing. You can see me in action below during this interview which I did for Sky Channel on the 41st anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in 2007:
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Awesome new 4 min clip for Terminator Salvation starring Sam Worthington
Just in case you haven’t yet seen this new 4 minute clip for the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie starring Sam Worthington (Marcus Wright) and Christian Bale (John Connor), check it out below. Sam narrated our award winning Battle of Long Tan documentary.
Sam’s career will explode this year with a starring role in Terminator Salvation and then James Cameron’s Avatar Sci-Fi film at the end of this year. Sam has also scored a lead role in Clash of the Titans.
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