Series number

AWM 298

 

Series title

Records of 106 Field Workshop - Royal Corps of Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (106 Fd Wksp RAEME)

 

Series contents date range

1965-1972

 

Extent

20 cm

 

Access conditions

Subject to the Archives Act 1983

 

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

 

Function and Provenance

Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War spanned eight years from 1965 to 1972.  At its peak the Australian Army’s commitment to Vietnam stood at a Task Force consisting of three infantry battalions and supporting arms, a logistic support group and the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam.

 

106 Field Workshop, Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME), was deployed to Vietnam on 15 November 1968 as a reinforcement for the Australian Task Force (ATF) whose primary Area of Operation was Phuoc Tuy Province.  The unit was deployed as a response to an urgent need to improve battle worthiness and damage recovery of the Task Force’s fighting equipment.  Essentially 106 Field Workshop had been raised to serve the Australian armoured squadron in Vietnam.  When C Squadron, 1 Armoured Regiment, arrived at the end of January 1968 it was accompanied by 1 Independent Armoured Squadron Workshop.  This squadron was redesignated 1 Armoured Squadron Workshop on 3 February 1968 and absorbed into 106 Field Workshop when it was raised in the following November.  Under the initial command of Major W.I.N.S. Hicks-Hall the unit operated a workshop in the operational base at Nui Dat and deployed forward repair and recovery teams with, and in close support of, the fighting echelons wherever required.

 

106 Field Workshop, RAEME, was withdrawn from Vietnam to Wodonga, Australia, on 7 October 1971 where it was disbanded.

 

Content

AWM 298 contains the records created and maintained by 106 Fd Wksp during its service in Vietnam.   AWM 298 consists mainly of paper files and documents concerning the operation of the ATF.  Researchers should note that little of the series refers to the core functions and operational reporting of the 106 Fd Wksp itself.  At the time of writing (January 2005), the series comprises only nine files.  Presuming that the unit produced more records than this during their three year deployment, it is unknown what became of the remainder of the records.  Inquiries have been made with the Department of Defence.

 

Those files classified as Operations – General – All Aspects include:

            

·          Defoliation Program, Operation Instructions, Training Programs and After   Action Reports (R569/1/1/1) in period 11 Oct 68 – 19 Dec 69

·          Patrol Programs and Patrol Forecasts (R569/1/1/2) in periods 18 Feb 70 – 19 Jul 70 and 14 Jul 70 – 6 Oct 70

·          Patrol Programs and Operation Summaries (R569/1/1/3) in period 14 Jul 70 – 6 Oct 70

·          Patrol Programs (R569/1/1/4) in period 7 Oct 70 – 11 Feb 71

·          Administration Instructions and Patrol Programs (R569/1/1/5) in period 5 Mar 71 – 14 Jun 71

·          Patrol Programs and Situation Reports (R569/1/1/6) in period 13 Jul 71 – 29 Aug 71

 

Those files in this series classified as Operations – General - Phuoc Tuy Province include:

 

·          Defence Stores and their Recovery (R569/1/10/A) in period 24 May 69 – 4 Aug 70

·          SUPINTREP’s and Situation Reports (R569/1/10/B) in period 30 Jul 71 – 25 Aug 71

·          INTSUM’s,  SUPINTREP’s, Situation Reports and Administration Instructions (R569/1/10/C) in period 26 Aug 71 – 7 Oct 71

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 records have a three-part number conforming to the Department of the Army registry classification of correspondence catalogue.  The first number represents the primary topic of the item, the second and third number refines the topic further in particular the third number representing the sequential file number for the record subject.  Item numbers are preceded by the letter “R” representing the item being registered.  Those records in this series specifically classified as Operations – General - Phuoc Tuy Province, have been additionally allocated letters eg. A, B, and C

 

Sources

AWM administrative file, AWM298 Series Dossier

 

Barker, T Craftsmen of the Australian Army: the story of RAEME, Crawford House Press Pty Ltd, Bathurst, 1992

 

Website of 106 Field Workshop (RAEME) Association [Viewed online, 13 January 2005] http://www.106fdwksp.com