To Long Tan is the second volume of the Official History of Australia’s involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1975, and the first of two volumes on Australian ground operations in Vietnam. This volume begins soon after the Second World War and examines the commitment of Australian forces to Vietnam, first as advisers in 1962, then as a single battalion in 1965, and finally as an independent task force in 1966. Ian McNeill takes the reader through to the battle of Long Tan in August 1966 for which he presents a new and absorbing interpretation. At this critical action the Australians established themselves as the dominant force in Phuoc Tuy province.

Ian McNeill has had access to all relevant Australian Government records, and has supplemented this vast array of material with extensive interviews with participants, personal papers and correspondence, and discussions with former Viet Cong. The product of six years’ work, To Long Tan throws light on the experience of Australian ground troops in Vietnam in a way that has not been possible before.

To Long Tan offers an understanding of the background to military events and decisions in Vietnam. It explains the Army’s changing strategies and methods of operating, and explores the way the Australian forces related to both the Vietnamese and the Americans. It also delves into the experiences of individuals.

To Long Tan is an authoritative and highly readable study of the war on the ground in Vietnam up to the end of 1966. Ian McNeill is currently at work on the second ground operations volume, which will take the story from 1967 to 1975.