5th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment


caption=Badge of the Royal Australian Regiment
country=Australia
allegiance=
type=Line Infantry
branch=Army
dates=1965–1973
2006-
specialization=Mechanised Infantry
command_structure=1 Brigade
size=
current_commander= Lieutenant Colonel Jake Ellwood
garrison=Darwin
ceremonial_chief=HM The Queen (Royal Australian Infantry Corps)
ceremonial_chief_label=Colonel-in-Chief
nickname="The Tigers"
motto=Duty First
colors=Gold
identification_symbol=
identification_symbol_label=Unit Colour Patch
identification_symbol_2=
identification_symbol_2_label=Tartan
march=Quick - "Dominique"
Slow - "Men of Harlech"
mascot=Sumatran Tiger "Quintus Secundus"
battles=
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=

Fifth Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (5 RAR) is a regular infantry battalion of the Australian Army.

Fifth Battalion 'was born on March 1st, 1965 at Holsworthy in the military wilderness on the outskirts of Sydney. Since the Fifth and Sixth were the first battalions of The Royal Australian Regiment to be composed of a mixture of regulars and national servicemen, their formation and development was a particularly vital experiment for this was to be the model for the infantry battalions of the Army from then onwards' (source: Robert O'Neil, intelligence officer during 5 RAR's first tour of Vietnam and author of the Battalion history, "Vietnam Task").

This was a time of expanding commitments for the Australian Army: an infantry battalion serving on rotation in Malaysia since 1955; a training team deployed to South Vietnam since 1962, followed by the deployment of the 1st Battalion in 1965 and then the 1st Australian Task force from 1966 to 1972; and a battalion commitment to Borneo from 1964 to 1966. To meet the challenges of these commitments, the Army needed to expand from four to nine battalions. In 1965 the First Battalion split to provide a cadre of regulars to the new Fifth battalion whilst conscripts were used to bring the unit up to strength. When the Battalion held its inauguration parade on 05 November 1965 some 250 conscripts from the first national service intake were present amongst the ranks.

Lieutenant Colonel P. H. Oxley was the first Commanding Officer, but when he was promoted Colonel in September 1965 command passed to Lieutenant Colonel J. A. Warr. 'The First Battalion was in the final stages of its preparations for departure to Vietnam and so the Fifth came in for more than its usual share of routine chores and administrative duties. In order to foster high spirit in the new battalion the idea of becoming know as the 'Tiger Battalion' was introduced and this spread rapidly and spontaneously amongst its members. From that time on Fifth Battalion were the Tiger Battalion, from the gold of their lanyards to the tiger tails tied onto the kitbags leaving for Vietnam in April 1966 (O'Neill, "Vietnam Task", p. 18).

Upon arrival in South Vietnam the Battalion, under Warr's command, commenced operations on 24 May 1966 by participating in the clearance of the 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat - Operation Hardihood. Other activities followed: such as the reclamation of Binh Ba (Operation Holsworthy, 7 to 18 August 1966) - a village that would figure prominently during the battalion's second tour; clearance operations following Sixth Battalion's action at Long Tan (Operation Darlinghurst, 26 to 31 August 1966); clearance of the Nui Thi Vai feature to secure Route 15 (Operation Canberra, 6 to 10 October 1966); operations against the village cadres (such as Operation Beaumaris, 13 to 14 February 1967); and searches of the Viet Cong base areas in the Long Hai Hills (Operation Renmark, 18 - 22 February 1967). In total Fifth Battalion conducted eighteen separate operations before it handed responsibility over to Seventh Battalion. The Battalion returned to Australia in April 1967 having lost 25 men killed in action or died of wounds, and 79 wounded in action.

Fifth Battalion commenced its second tour of South Vietnam in April 1969, this time under the command of Lieutenant Colonel C.N. Khan. After shaking out for two weeks, the Battalion began a reconnaissance in force in the northern and eastern parts of the rugged Nui Dinh mountain complex on 1 March 1969 - Operations Quintus Thrust I and II. Other activities followed: reacting to a significant threat against United States forces in the Long Binh and Bien Hoa areas (Operations Federal and Overlander, 10 March to 8 April 1969); ambushing in the Nui Thi Vai mountain complex (Operation Twickenham I, 2 to 13 May 1969); the Battle of Binh Ba, for which the Royal Australian Regiment received a battle honour for its action against a battalion of the 33 NVA Regiment (Operation Hammer, 6 to 8 June 1969); operations to locate and destroy the D445 Viet Cong Battalion (Operation Kingston, 14 September to 15 October 1969); and cordon and searches of the hamlets of Duc Trung, Binh Ba and Duc My (Operations Bondi I and II, 27 December to 16 February 1970). At the conclusion of its tour Fifth Battalion again handed over to the Seventh Battalion. By the time it returned home in February 1970, the Battalion had carried out some 18 operations during its twelve month operational tour and suffered 25 men killed or died of wounds, and 202 wounded in action.

During its two operational tours in South Vietnam, Fifth Battalion received 45 honours and awards including: two Distinguished Service Orders, six Military Crosses, two Distinguished Conduct Medals, five Military Medals, and 29 mentioned-in-dispatches.

Following Australia's withdrawal of military forces from Vietnam in 1973 the Government decided that it would not sustain nine battalions of regular infantry. This required the amalgamation of some battalions, and so on 3 December 1973 the Fifth and Seventh Battalions, then serving together at Holsworthy, were linked in a formal parade. Thus was born the Fifth/Seventh Battalion.

In 2005 the Australian Government announced that it would again expand the Army to meet operational commitments, this time from six to eight regular infantry battalions. As such the Fifth/Seventh Battalion conducted a de-linking parade on 03 December 2006, reforming as the Fifth and Seventh Battalions - an event warmly welcomed by the veterans of both battalion associations. At the time of the de-linking D Company, Fifth Battalion was serving as a part of Overwatch Battle Group (West) 2 in southern Iraq.

Alliances

*GBR - Welsh Guards

External links

* [http://www.5rar.asn.au/ 5th Battalion Association]