New Zealand Forces MEMBERS OF ROYAL NEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY carry out a fire mission. Combat involvement 1965 - 66 New Zealand combat involvement in Vietnam began with the arrival in Saigon of the 161st Battery, RNZA, equipped with L5 pack howitzers, in July 1965. The personnel and their equipment were conveyed to the theatre by RNZAF C130 aircraft the first occasion a NZ unit had been deployed in a war zone with full equipment by air. The gunners were based at Bien Hoa air base,where they provided support to the American 173rd Airborne Brigade, under whose operational control they were placed. After preparing facilities for them,the engineer detachment was withdrawn to New Zealand. The battery was involved in seventeen major operations,mainly around Bien Hoa but also including two sorties into Phuoc Tuy province to the south. During 1966 it was brought up to six-gun strength and, in June,passed to the operational control of 1st Australian Task Force,which was established at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy province. In August 1966 the gunners played a key role in assisting Australian infantry of 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment,during the important action at Xa Long Tan, in which 18 Australians were killed holding off a regimental sized enemy force. ANZAC Battalion Once 'Confrontation' ended and Australia decided,in December 66,to expand 1st ATF to a brigade strength,New Zealand came under new pressure to increase its commitment. In April 1967 V Company was deployed from New Zealand's infantry battalion in West Malaysia,to be followed in December by W Company. From this time the battalion was almost exclusively focused on supporting the infantry involvement in Vietnam. The New Zealand companies operated at first under the operational control of 2nd Battalion, RAR. From March 1968 they were integrated within 2RAR to form 2RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion, with New Zealand personnel assuming various positions in the battalion, including that of second in command. A similar arrangement was made with 4RAR when it relieved 2RAR in May 1968, and then successively with 6RAR and 2RAR until the end of the two countries' combat commitment. Although convenient for New Zealand, given the small size of its infantry contingent, and reasonably effective in practice,the integration meant that the New Zealand identity of the units, and the artillery, tended to be overshadowed by the Australians. For the New Zealand infantrymen,the operations were a constant round of patrols or cordon and search operations.Large-scale actions were uncommon. The objective, to seize the initiative in the province, was largely achieved, and the provincial enemy forces were rendered largely ineffective without outside support. New Zealand Army Training Team Vietnam (NZATTV ) 1970 / 71 During NOV 70-FEB 71 the NZ Army established its very own Training Team in SVN, modelled along the lines of AATTV, and which had commenced activities in two distinct locations of II and IV Corps respectively. These NZ Army units were entirely separate from the AATTV,although there had already been ten NZ Army personnel posted onto the establishment strength of AATTV who served with AATTV during the period 1970-71,and who were completely under the command of HQ AATTV Saigon and worked within III and IV Corps. This new venture,which the NZ Army logically called the New Zealand Army Training Team Vietnam or NZATTV,consisted of two distinct groups, the 1st NZATTV and the 2nd NZATTV who conducted training in II and IV Corps respectively. The 1st NZATTV served from FEB 71 to DEC 72 (twenty two months) at Chi Lang,forty clicks south of Chau Doc,in Chau Doc Province,right on the Cambodian border where the Song Bassac come Song Mekong crossed into that country. This NZATTV had a strength of twenty five Advisors increasing to thirty during NOV 71 to JUL 72. Their task was to train Pl Commanders and Junior Leaders from Regional Units within the AO of the 44 STZ,whose US Army Regt Senior Advisor was originally Lt Col David H Hackworth of the US Army. The 2nd NZATTV served from FEB – DEC 72 (ten months) at Dong Ba Thin near Cam Ranh Bay in Ninh Thuan Province of northern II Corps. Strength of this Team ranged from twenty one Advisors initially  and thence down to eighteen over time. This NZATTV assisted the US Army Training Team,or MAT/MATT,to train some twelve Cambodian Army Inf Bn at Dong Ba Thin in Ninh Tuan Province of II Corps. Contributions from other forces New Zealand added several other small units and groups of personnel,including members of both the RNZN and RNZAF,to its commitment in Vietnam during the period 1967 to 1969. The 1st New Zealand Services Medical Team was deployed in April 1967 with the role of providing medical and surgical assistance to South Vietnamese civilians and encouraging the development of indigenous capacity in this field. Twenty-seven strong at its peak,it operated initially at Qui Nonh before moving to Bong Son. In July 1967 an RNZAF pilot was made available to 9 Squadron RAAF,which operated Iroquois helicopters,and two more were provided in 1968. From December 1968 two forward air controllers served with the 7th US Air Force. The RNZAF also made a more general contribution,insofar as its transport aircraft supported the commitment in Vietnam throughout New Zealand's involvement. In January 1969 a 26-man Special Air Services troop arrived in Vietnam, raising the strength of New Zealand's force to its peak of 543 men. It was involved in intelligence gathering in Phuoc Tuy,mounting 155 patrols in all. Gradual withdrawal As these training teams began their work, Australian and New Zealand combat forces were gradually being withdrawn, in line with reductions in American strength in Vietnam. First to go was W Company, in November 1970, and the SAS troop and artillery battery followed in February and May 1971 respectively. With the withdrawal of 1st Australian Task Force in December 1971,New Zealand's combat involvement in Vietnam was brought to an end by the withdrawal of V Company and the services medical team. One of the first acts of the Labour government led by Norman Kirk, which took office in December 1972,was to withdraw both training teams. By then, a total of 3890 New Zealand military personnel had served with V-Force in Vietnam; 37 of them (36 Army and 1 RNZAF) had been killed and 187 wounded. All who served were regulars,or personnel who enlisted in the Regular Force for the purpose of joining V-Force. They were volunteers in the sense that they were not compelled to serve in Vietnam, though for a proportion,especially officers,choice in the matter was largely constrained by professional demands. The size of V-Force was such that New Zealand did not have to follow its American and Australian allies by introducing conscription. Please check HERE for items wanted for Collection Please use this EMAIL for any contact.