* August 18 – Vietnam War – Battle of Long Tan: D Company, 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, meets and defeats a Viet Cong force estimated to be 4 times larger, at the in Phuoc Tuy Province, Republic of Vietnam.

On June 8, 2006, Viet D. Dinh, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and Nathan A.

* Viet D. Dinh, former Assistant Attorney General of the United States, chief architect of the USA PATRIOT Act, Supreme Court clerk for Sandra Day O ' Connor.

On June 8, 2006, Viet D. Dinh, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and Nathan A.

# REDIRECT Viet D. Dinh

The action was fought between Australian forces and Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units after the 108-man D Company, 6 RAR clashed with a force of over 2, 000 men from the Viet Cong 275th Regiment, reinforced by at least one North Vietnamese battalion and elements of D445 Provincial Mobile Battalion.

The Viet Cong were caught by surprise as the Australian cavalry crashed into their flank and with darkness falling they broke through to D Company at 19: 00, while B Company arrived at the same time.

The Viet Cong had been massing for another assault which would have likely destroyed D Company, yet the firepower and mobility of the armour broke their will to fight, forcing them to withdraw as night approached.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, D Company had held off a large Viet Cong assault of regimental strength supported by heavy artillery fire, before a relief force consisting of cavalry and infantry fought their way through and forced the Viet Cong to withdraw.

D Company, 6 RAR under the command of Major Harry Smith had previously been warned out for a three-day patrol south-east of Nui Dat and was instead ordered to relieve B Company the next day to continue the search for the Viet Cong mortar crews.

At the track junction D Company found evidence of the Viet Cong mortars having been prepared for firing, while further equipment was found scattered around the position which again indicated a rapid withdrawal and the accuracy of the counter-battery fire.

As Jackson's aide he had been aware of the intelligence being received and was convinced D Company had clashed with a Viet Cong main force regiment.

Beginning as an encounter battle, heavy fighting ensued as the advancing battalions of the Viet Cong 275th Regiment, reinforced by D445 Battalion, clashed with D Company, 6 RAR and attempted to encircle and destroy them.

Yet as he was unable to see their location, for safety reasons the initial rounds were directed a distance from 11 Platoon's known location, before " walking " the fire in to between from their position, aided by D Company's favourable location between the Viet Cong and gun position at Nui Dat, which allowed the rounds to pass over their heads and fall away from them.

At 16: 26 Smith reported to Townsend that D Company was facing a Viet Cong force of company-size and that they were using mortars, and urgently called for artillery support.

It appeared that the Viet Cong would shortly overrun D Company if they were not soon reinforced.

He was unsure of the size of the Viet Cong force facing D Company, although from Smith's reports it appeared to be at least a regular battalion.

Seemingly intent on attacking Nui Dat, the Viet Cong moved to overrun the beleaguered force, yet the dispersal of the Australian platoons made it difficult for them to find D Company's flanks and roll them up, and may have led the Viet Cong commander to assess that he was facing a much larger Australian force.

By 18: 10 D Company had reformed, while the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong appeared to have momentarily broken contact.

Smith attempted place his depleted platoons into a position from which they could defend themselves, yet D Company's position had been dictated by the actions of the Viet Cong and the need to care for the wounded and as a result they had little choice of the ground on which to make their stand.

The Viet Cong subsequently attempted to establish another heavy machine-gun just from the D Company perimeter, but Kirby personally moved out and killed the crew.

The hard core of the pro-Communist rebel force numbers only some 2,000 tough Viet Minh guerrilla fighters.

Cambodia's chief of state, who has been accused of harboring Communist marauders and otherwise making life miserable for neighboring South Viet Nam and Thailand, insists he would be very unhappy if communism established its power in Southeast Asia.

Gen. Maxwell Taylor's statement in Saigon that he is `` very much encouraged '' about the chances of the pro-Western government of Viet Nam turning back Communist guerrilla attacks comes close to an announcement that he will not recommend dispatching United States troops to bolster the Vietnamese Army.

Gen. Taylor will report to President Kennedy in a few days on the results of his visit to South Viet Nam and, judging from some of his remarks to reporters in the Far East, he is likely to urge a more efficient mobilization of Vietnamese military, economic, political and other resources.

South Viet Nam's rice surplus for next year -- more than 300,000 tons -- may have been destroyed.

The Viet Cong, the Communist rebels, may have lost their stored grain and arms factories.

South Viet Nam has received $1,450,000,000 in United States aid since 1954 and the rate of assistance has been stepped up since Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson's visit last May.

The Pathet Lao, stiffened by Communist Veterans from neighboring North Viet Nam, were supplied by Soviet aircraft.

The United States, State Department officials explain, now is mainly interested in setting up an international inspection system which will prevent Laos from being used as a base for Communist attacks on neighboring Thailand and South Viet Nam.

There was the further complication that the administration had very early concluded that Laos was ill suited to be an ally, unlike its more determined neighbors, Thailand and South Viet Nam.

The Laos government said four major Pathet Lao rebel attacks had been launched, heavily supported by troops from Communist North Viet Nam.

After a White House huddle between the President and top lieutenants, the Defense Department reacted sharply to a cry from the pro-Western government of Laos that several battalions of Communist troops had invaded Laos from North Viet Nam.

At Geneva in 1954, to get the war in Indo-China settled, the British and French gave in to Russian and Communist Chinese demands and agreed to the setting up of a Communist state, North Viet Nam -- which then, predictably, became a base for Communist operations against neighboring South Viet Nam and Laos.

`` The important thing from now on '', he said, `` is not to mourn the past but to seize the future opportunity to prevent the loss in northern Viet Nam from leading to the extension of Communism throughout Southeast Asia ''.

* 1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.

* 1966 – Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong.

* 1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins – United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

* 1966 – Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phuoc Tuy province.

* 1945 – August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Red Cross of Viet Nam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent Orange.

Vietnamese academic and journalist Doan Viet Hoat was nicknamed " the Sakharov of Vietnam " for his criticism of Vietnam's communist leadership and his subsequent imprisonment.

The lyrics were written in honor of Green Beret James Gabriel, Jr., the first Native Hawaiian who died in Vietnam, who was executed by the Viet Cong while on a training mission on April 8, 1962.

However, territorial expansion stopped after a defeat by Dai Viet.

As a result of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, Cambodia was able to bring about the withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from its territory and to withstand any residual impingement upon its sovereignty by external powers.