Filmed for posterity: Soldiers from 53 Independent Bty at the School of Artillery fire the L5 105 mm gun for a re-enactment of the Battle of Long Tan. Photo by Cpl Andrew Hetherington
THE hills surrounding the Proof and Experimental Establishment (P&EE) at Graytown, Victoria, reverberated to the gunfire of the only functional Australian L5 105mm artillery gun during a re-enactment of the most well known and significant Australian battle of the Vietnam War.
The event was filmed on August 24 for an Australian War Memorial (AWM) display on the Battle of Long Tan. Project Coordinator Brig Chris Roberts (retd) – who served in Vietnam in 1969 with 3 Sqn SAS – said the artillery shoot was not the only aspect of the battle filmed for the display.
“We filmed the infantry portion of the battle in Mackay, Queensland, in July. 42RQR featured in those scenes and an actual APC used in the battle appeared in the filming.”
Brig Roberts said everything had been done to ensure the characters and their equipment in the film would be authentic.
“We recorded sounds of 105mm artillery impacting on targets during the recent Exercise Chong Ju and have filmed the firing of M60s, AR15s and SLRs,” he said. “Even down to the characters who wore distinctive items of clothing during the battle, we have duplicated what they wore.”
One of the difficulties replicating the Vietnam era was finding soldiers with similar body types. Brig Roberts said Australian soldiers in Vietnam were much thinner than they are today.
“We were as skinny as rakes. Today they are much stockier; it was not easy to fit them out with uniforms of the day,” he said.
Soldiers from 53 Independent Bty at the School of Artillery were chosen to man the two L5 105mm guns. Bdr Lucas Allegretto, the detachment commander on the only gun to fire during the shoot, said he and his mates were keen to be involved in the project.
“It is an honour to be a part of it and to re-enact such a great battle,” he said. “I have enjoyed getting involved with the project as it’s something that you don’t get a chance to do every day.”
Maj Jamie McRae, OC of P&EE at Graytown, said the gun that was fired during the filming belonged to the unit. The other gun in the shoot is from the AWM.
“The AWM asked if we had an L5, we said we did but we weren’t sure of its serviceability,” he said.
“We then wheeled the gun out and we conducted a certification on it. With this type of weapon the seals are made of leather and what happens is they hold the oil in the recuperating systems and they can potentially dry out, crack and begin to leak.
“It is not often the unit would keep a gun like this in storage, it’s fortunate we did in this case. It was checked and maintained on a monthly basis when in storage.
“We have been going through a process to try to withdraw from our stores a lot of the older weapons systems and placing them into museums. It was very much a coincidence.”
The weapon was test fired using a long lanyard to protect personnel if the firing did not go to plan.
The unit worked a total of 30 hours over 10 weeks to prepare for the event.
“The 53 Bty personnel did a bit of training on the L5, which is a lot different to the current guns in service.
It has a different level of manning and we were fortunate to find a manual, through one of the guys working here, to assist with the training,” Maj McRae said. “Some of the guys here had also trained on the L5 when they previously served in the military.”
He said 4CER sandbagged the gun emplacements using a sandbag filling machine provided by the Albury branch of the SES.
The first-ever battle re-enactment staged for the AWM was a change in tasking for a unit more accustomed to evaluating weapons systems.
“The unit is generally involved with proofing and evaluating weapons systems that are coming into or are in service to ensure they are performing in the way they were purchased for,” Maj McRae said.
The Long Tan display is due to be open for public viewing at the AWM Canberra early next year.
