Series number
AWM104
Series title
Control series for records of formations and units of the Australian Army during the Vietnam War
Contents date range
1965-1972
Extent
2 metres (12 boxes)
Access conditions
Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)
Agency controlling
Department of Defence
Custodial agency
Australian War Memorial
Function and provenance
Australia’s military involvement in the war in Vietnam lasted from 1962 to 1973. The initial commitment in July and August 1962 consisted of a group of 30 instructors from the Australian Army Training Team (AATTV) who assisted United States Army advisors in training Republic of Vietnam (RVN) ground forces in jungle warfare, village defence and related activities. This was followed by a detachment of 6 Caribou aircraft with requisite flying and maintenance personnel in 1964 and an Army battalion, the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), and supporting logistical services in 1965. Command of these forces was exercised by Headquarters Australian Army Force Vietnam (HQ AAFV).
In March 1966 Cabinet increased Australia’s commitment in Vietnam to a Task Force consisting of two infantry battalions, an artillery regiment, an armoured squadron, a cavalry squadron and other supporting arms and services. The force known as 1 Australian Task Force (1ATF) was based at Nui Dat in PhuocTuyProvince, east of Saigon.
The first two battalions to join the Task Force were 5RAR and 6RAR. A civil affairs unit was added to 1ATF in March 1967 to carry out and coordinate a vast range of construction, resettlement, medical and dental, education and welfare activities for the civil population of Phuoc Tuy. In December 1967, 1ATF was augmented by a third RAR battalion and a squadron of Centurion tanks in February 1968.
By 1969 growing opposition to the war in Australia forced the government to announce a withdrawal of forces. In November 1970, 8RAR was withdrawn and not replaced. 1ATF began withdrawing from Phuoc Tuy between late October and early December 1971 and the last of the logistic support elements left in March 1972. Nearly all Australian troops were withdrawn from Vietnam by December 1972 with the remainder by June 1973.
The first major transfer of records from the Department of Defence to the Australian War Memorial relating to the Vietnam War occurred between November 1981 and March 1982. This consignment was accessioned as OW92/11.
The registry cards which controlled this series of records were transferred in February 1982 and accessioned as OW82/20. The series became known as AWM104 in the mid 1980s when the Memorial adopted its new numbering system for Official Records.
For units where no control cards existed an artificial index was created prior to the transfer of the files. These cards were then added to the existing control cards. The file titles on the cards were then marked with a tick to indicate that the files had been packed ready for transfer.
Contents
This series consisting of 12 boxes of 8” x 5” registry index cards is the control series for files which were created by various headquarters units and units under their command who served in the Vietnam War. The files were accessioned as series AWM98, AWM100, AWM103 and AWM116.
In recent years Official Records staff have removed most of the records which were originally part of AWM100 from this series and given them their own series registrations.
System of arrangement and control
The system of arrangement and control is the original Department of the Army filing system, as used when the records were created. The card indexes consist of the file titles and file numbers of registered files and are arranged by unit.
Registered items have a three-part item number conforming with the Department ofthe Army registry classification of correspondence catalogue. The first number represents the primary topic of the item, the second and third numbers refine the topic further.
Using the series
Each item in the various series which the cards control is recorded on the RecordSearch database which researchers can access via the Internet. Further assistance in finding relevant information may be gained from related series of records (click on Series Links at the bottom of this page).
Researchers may have access to the original control cards. Following is a listing of the units for which cards are available and the box in which they are contained along with the series number for the records.
Box 1
HQ AFV
Headquarters Australian Force Vietnam
R1 – R550
(AWM98)
Box 2
HQ AFV
Headquarters Australian Force Vietnam
R551 – R979
(AWM98)
Box 3
HQ AFV
Headquarters Australian Force Vietnam
R980 – R9999
(AWM98)
Box 4
HQ 1ATF
Headquarters 1 Australian Task Force
R1 – R810
(AWM103)
Box 5
HQ 1ATF
Headquarters 1 Australian Task Force
R812 – R9999
(AWM103)
Box 6
HQ 1ALSG
Headquarters 1st Australian Logistic Support Group
R1 – R9905
(AWM116)
Box 7
2 AOD
2 Advanced Ordnance Depot
R1 – R9999
(AWM100)
Box 8
Psych Ops unit
1 Psychological Operations Unit
(AWM304)
AFV Cash Office
Australian Forces Vietnam Cash Office
(AWM310)
1 AustCA Unit
1 Australian Civil Affairs Unit
(AWM314)
HQ AAAGV
Headquarters Australian Army Advisory Group
(AWM276)
2RAR
2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
(AWM290)
3RAR
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
(AWM290)
4RAR
4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
(AWM290)
5RAR
5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
(AWM290)
7RAR
7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
(AWM290)
AFV Amenities Unit
Australian Forces Vietnam Amenities Unit
(AWM311)
Engineers
(AWM100)
Australian Embassy Saigon
(AWM282)
Air Attache Saigon
(AWM282)
Naval and Air Attache
(AWM282)
Box 9
AATTV
Australian Army Training Team Vietnam
(AWM293)
Edn Unit
Education Unit
(AWM307)
AFV PRO
Australian Forces Vietnam Provost Unit
(AWM291)
30 Term Squad
Detachment 30 Terminal Squadron
(AWM308)
102 Field Workshop
(AWM309)
55 EWPS
55 Engineer Workshop and Park Squadron
(AWM316)
Box 10
1 Aust Field Hospital
1 Australian Field Hospital
(AWM313)
8 Fd Amb
8 Field Ambulance
(AWM302)
110 Sig Sqn
110 Signal Squadron
(AWM322)
161 Recce Flight
161 Independent Reconnaissance Flight
(AWM289)
Box 11
5 Coy RAASC
5 Coy Royal Australian Army Service Corps
(AWM317)
26 Coy RAASC
26 Coy Royal Australian Army Service Corps
(AWM319)
1 Armd Regt
1 Armoured Regiment
(AWM288)
Box 12
1 Ord Field Park
1 Ordnance Field Park
(AWM320)
Sources
AWM administrative file, AWM104 Series dossier
Dennis, Peter …[et al.] 1995, The Oxford companion to Australian military history, Oxford University Press, Melbourne
Frost, Frank1987, Australia’s war in Vietnam, Sydney, Allen and Unwin
McNeill, Ian 1993, To Long Tan: the Australian Army and the Vietnam War
1950-1966, Allen and Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, St Leonards, NSW