Long Phước, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu
There are several other villages called Long Phước

Long Phước is a commune (xã) and village in Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province, Vietnam. When it was part of South Vietnam, it was in Phước Tuy province.

The village was destroyed and forcibly resettled[1] by Australian troops establishing an exclusion zone around the newly constructed Nui Dat base in the weeks leading up to the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966. In that battle, a much smaller Australian unit recorded a decisive victory over the Vietnamese communist forces. The village was one of two[2] destroyed as a Vietcong stronghold, standing on a maze of tunnels, one of which ran nearly 2 miles to Long Tan.[3] However, the resettlement created great resentment[4] and spread and displaced Viet Cong supporters.[5] A minefield was laid, which and other use of landmines in Vietnam became a source of mines for the Viet Cong to use against those who laid them.[6][7]

The tunnels at Luong Phuoc are now open, preserved as part of a museum.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ Ian McGibbon New Zealand's Vietnam War 2010 Page 139 "In the interests of security, the Australians planned to establish an exclusion (free fire) zone around the Nui Dat base. ... Establishing the zone required resettling two villages known to be sympathetic to the Viet Cong – Long Phuoc and Long ..."
  2. ↑ Peter Nolan Possums and Bird Dogs: Australian Army Aviation's 161 Reconnaissance Flight in South Vietnam 2006, Page 42 "establishment of a large, secure zone around the task force entailed the relocation of the citizens of only two villages, Long Tan and Long Phuoc."
  3. ↑ Malcolm Fraser, Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs ed. Margaret Simons 2011, Page 154 "Just a few weeks before, the Australians had destroyed the village of Long Phuoc, a few miles south-east of the base. It had been a fortified Vietcong-controlled area, standing on a maze of tunnels, one of which ran nearly 2 miles to Long Tan."
  4. ↑ Robin Gerster, Peter Pierce On the war-path: an anthology of Australian military travel Page 264 2004 "We sped through the village of Hoa Long, a mean-looking place which never responded to Australian overtures, perhaps because the inhabitants remembered the complete destruction in 1966 of nearby Long Phuoc, where many of them had ..."
  5. ↑ Terry Burstall Vietnam, the Australian dilemma 1993 "Robert O'Neill stated that the resettlement of people from the villages of Long Phuoc and Long Tan, and the displacement of other people from the Australian TAOR (Tactical Area of Responsibility), "spread a thin layer of Viet Cong across the ...
  6. ↑ Andrew A. Wiest Rolling thunder in a gentle land: the Vietnam War revisited Page 166 2006 "Constructed to run 12km from the Horseshoe position, past Dat Do to the village of Long Phuoc Hai on the coast, protection and oversight of the minefield was to be provided by local territorial units because of the shortage of Australian ..."
  7. ↑ Gina Lennox Forged by war: Australians in combat and back home Page 228 2005 "In 1967, Australians laid an eleven-kilometre barrier of 21 000 mines between The Horseshoe and Long Phuoc. Never properly guarded, it became a source of mines for the Viet Cong. Of 520 Australian deaths in Vietnam, 109 were from ..."
  8. ↑ Garrie Hutchinson Pilgrimage: A Traveller's Guide to Australia's Battlefields Page 413 2006 "Long Phuoc On the site of the rebuilt Long Phuoc village is a small museum. ... It had been 'cleaned-up' but was still too narrow for an Australian body to squeeze very far."
  9. ↑ Terry Burstall A soldier returns: a Long Tan veteran discovers the other side of ... 1990 "When the Americans and the Australians came and forced all the people out, she went with many other Long Phuoc people to Hoa Long. She had no relatives in Hoa Long, which made it very difficult for her and her daughters. There was no ..."

10°30′56″N 107°13′30″E / 10.51556°N 107.22500°E / 10.51556; 107.22500

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