D445 Battalion

The 445th Battalion (D445 for short), also known as the Viet Cong D445 Provincial Mobile Battalion or the Ba Ria Battalion, was a Local Force battalion of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The battalion operated in the Đồng Nai river basin and also the Bien Hoa, Phước Tuy and Long Khánh provinces. It recruited principally from Dat Do, Long Dien and Hoa Long.

The battalion was formed on 19 May 1965. It consisted of three rifle companies and one weapons company with a total strength of approximately 350 men and was commanded by Nguyen Van Kiem. The battalion fought initially against American units and in the battle of Long Tần fought against Australian Army forces. Between 17 and 25 May 1966, the battalion at the cost of 10 killed and 20 wounded claimed to have killed a total of 423 Americans and shot down seven helicopters. According to D 445 Battalion political officer, the unit provided "guides for the units that mortared the Task Force" at Nui Dat base on 17 August 1966. A Viet Cong medic, Chung, reported that three of the Viet Cong RCL detachment were killed in the Australian counter-battery fire and were buried nearby. During the battle an 80-strong Vo Thi Sau civil labour company commanded by Chin Phuong, comprising mainly women and children, lent support by evacuating the casualties. Australian veterans and historians, in the main, claim that at Long Tần D445 Battalion suffered heavy casualties, with captured personnel reportedly later stating that D445 Battalion's casualties had been 70 killed and 100 wounded, or approximately 50 percent of its strength. Only one member of D445 was captured at Long Tan (reportedly a 57 mm RCL gunner); and two members of 275 Regiment were captured who declared themselves to be members of "Doan 45" as their cover story. During the retreat, Nguyen Duc Thu, the commander of D445's rearguard force, was seriously wounded by a bullet that passed through one ear lobe and went out the other and Tran Van Chien, and the commander of the 1st Company was killed. Several D445 soldiers were awarded Letters of Appreciation (Giay Khen) for their actions in the battle at Long Tan including Dao Van Trung (section 2ic/2nd Company), Tran Van Tranh (section 2ic/2nd Company), Pham Van Duong (2d Company). One Australian APC was hit by two rounds from a D445 recoilles rifle detachment, killing the driver and wounding the crew commander and several soldiers.

In 1968 a second local force unit was formed in Phước Tuy, known as D440 Battalion. The unit generally performed poorly against Australian forces however, and it was eventually disbanded in August 1970 with most of its personnel transferred to D445 Battalion.

In September 1979, the battalion was involved in operations against armed FULRO guerrillas in the Chua Chan Mountain/La Nga River area of Xuan Loc that were seeking independence for ethnic minorities in Vietnam and Cambodia.

On 23 February 2011, at a formal meeting to discuss arrangements for a memorial for D445 by surviving veterans and government officials, it was stated that during the war the battalion "had wiped out more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, destroyed 120 military vehicles, shot down 20 aircraft, and seized more than 1,800 weapons of different types. More than 1,000 cadre and soldiers of the battalion had heroically sacrificed themselves."