Reluctant Ally

by Ian McGibbon

Forty years ago New Zealand combat troops entered what would become their country’s longest and most controversial war. First in action were the gunners of 161 Battery RNZA, who on 16 July 1965 fired their first shot into the infamous War Zone D, near Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).

The artillerymen had deployed to Vietnam following an announcement by Prime Minister Keith Holyoake nearly two months earlier that New Zealand would send a combat unit to join the United States-led coalition there, replacing the 25-strong non-combatant engineer unit that had been sent in the previous year. Their objective would be to assist the South Vietnamese government to prevail in its desperate struggle with insurgents, the Viet Cong, who with the backing of the North Vietnamese government aimed to bring it down and unify the country by force.

Although essentially a civil war, the struggle in Vietnam was inextricably bound up with the Cold War, the conflict between the Soviet Union and its former wartime allies in the West that had dominated international politics since the end of the Second World War. Firmly committed to the Western Allies’ policy of containment of the Soviet Union and its proxies, New Zealand saw the fighting in Cold War terms. Yet it was very reluctant to become involved.

There were doubts in Wellington about the prospects of success in defending South Vietnam. Moreover, with substantial forces stationed in Malaysia, New Zealand had few resources to spare for operations there without introducing conscription. But Holyoake’s government feared that a failure to at least fly the flag with its major allies --- the United States and Australia --- would adversely affect the ANZUS alliance, on which it believed New Zealand’s long-term security depended. While making a small contribution available for Vietnam, it preferred to concentrate on Malaysia, which was also in strife with Indonesia at this time.
Under pressure from Washington New Zealand eventually expanded its commitment, sending two infantry companies, an SAS detachment, a services medical team and other personnel to Vietnam. The peak strength of V Force was 543 men and women.

As the American effort was run down after 1968, New Zealand progressively withdrew its combat units. All were gone by the end of 1971. Two training teams remained until they were pulled out at the end of 1972. In all 37 New Zealand servicemen lost their lives in Vietnam.

Dr Ian McGibbon is General Editor (War History) in the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. He is currently preparing the official history of New Zealand’s combat and medical relief operations in Vietnam and is anxious to hear from anyone who has information that might assist him. He is particularly interested in diaries and letters written at the time by those who took part in the conflict, or their post-war recollections. At this stage he does not need photographs. He can be contacted at PO Box 5364, Wellington or ian.mcgibbon@mch.govt.nz

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