From the bestselling author of Kokoda and Gallipoli comes the epic story of Australia''s deadliest Vietnam War battle.
4.31 pm: Enemy [on] left flank. Could be serious.
5.01 pm: Enemy ... penetrating both flanks and to north and south.
5.02: Running short of ammo. Require drop through trees.
It was the afternoon of 18 August 1966, hot, humid with grey monsoonal skies. D Company, 6RAR were four kilometres east of their Nui Dat base, on patrol in a rubber plantation not far from the abandoned village of Long Tan. A day after their base had suffered a mortar strike, they were looking for Viet Cong soldiers.
Then - just when they were least expecting - they found them. Under withering fire, some Diggers perished, some were grievously wounded, the rest fought on, as they remained under sustained attack.
For hours these men fought for their lives against the enemy onslaught. The skies opened and the rain fell as
