Information to Dave's book
Title: -Through
Enemy Eyes
Author: - Dave Sabben
Subtitle: - Long Tan, the Vietnamese story
Description: -
Based on extensive research into actual events, this
is an accurate retelling of the prelude to and the conduct of the Battle of Long
Tan, told from the Vietnamese side by looking through the eyes of fictional VC
and NVA commanders.
A quote from the book: -
"Quang felt a slight guilt at the ease with which he had finally made his
destiny become a reality. The whole Australian base will be a ruin on the
morning. Allowing for some soldiers to not be in base and for others to survive
the debacle, there will still be more than 1000 Australians killed, maybe 1500.
Their country couldn't support such a loss - it would have to withdraw all its
remaining troops. Probably the Australian government would fall. The American
aggressors will be shown to be powerless to prevent the slaughter of its only
independent ally. The puppet regime will see the weakness of the Americans and
not trust them to protect their own forces. This will change the course of the
whole war."
Background: -
An Australian military base is established around a hill in South Viet Nam. It's
only two battalions strong. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army draw up a
plan to eliminate the base and they assemble eight battalions for the task ...
But the plan is thwarted when the Vietnamese attack force runs into an
Australian company in the Long Tan rubber plantation.
This is a reliable account of the events leading up to the Battle of Long Tan
and an accurate narrative of the battle as experienced by the VC and NVA. The
book is categorised as fiction only because the original VC and NVA commanders
were not available to provide their real stories. Fictional characters have had
to be substituted.
Thus qualifying as 'faction', the book
is based on detailed research by Dave Sabben, one of the Australian platoon
commanders in the battle.
About the Author: -
Dave Sabben was a first-intake National Serviceman in July 1965. He graduated Second Lieutenant in December 1965 and joined 6 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), in January 1966. 6RAR was then posted to South Vietnam, arriving in June 1966. 72 days after arriving in the war zone, Delta Company fought the Battle of Long Tan. Dave commanded 12 Platoon of Delta Company. He survived the Battle and went on to complete a 12-month tour of duty.
He is one of the authors of The Battle of Long Tan as told by the Commanders published by Allen & Unwin in 2004.