Search & Destroy

In 1966 an American airborne platoon is mauled in Phước Tuy Province and rescued by Australian armoured personnel carriers. The encounter draws Corporal Chris Jackman and the men of the Royal Australian Regiment into a campaign against Lieutenant Vu Van Thinh and a Viet Cong battalion preparing to resist the establishment of a permanent allied base. Search-and-destroy patrols become a contest of reconnaissance, ambush and endurance in country the insurgents know intimately.

The novel opens the series by contrasting American mobility, Australian counter-insurgency methods and the Viet Cong’s local networks. Its military setting reflects the growing Australian commitment to the province during 1966, while the fictional platoon story concentrates on the uncertainty of jungle warfare and the rapid formation of trust between allied soldiers who have not previously fought together.