Through the Wire

Action with the SAS in Borneo and the Special Forces in Vietnam

The United States Special Forces, the Green Berets, were often regarded as the elite of the American forces and their mobile strike force, the "Mike Force" was considered the elite of these Special Forces. During the Vietnam War, the Mike Force performed an SAS-type role by working with and training ethnic minority groups in Vietnam that included mountain tribespeople - the Montagnards. David Savage was one of a select group of Australians who served with the Mike Force in Vietnam.

This book gives the first graphic account of a major battle at Duc Lap, in which the Mike Forcer and Montagnard mercenaries stopped a large North Vietnamese Regular Army force in August 1968. Mortar barrels and machine gun breeches glowed cherry red as they fought off human wave assaults by the North Vietnamese. All the while, they hoped that reinforcements would arrive in time to prevent the outpost being overrun. The US Army Official Historian described this battle as one of the major battles of the war and without doubt one of the most intense and ferocious.

David Savage, an officer with the Australian SAS in Borneo, served with the Mike Force in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. 'Through the Wire' details the satisfactions and frustrations of an Australian on operational service in Vietnam, operating under the command of the United States Special Forces, commanding Australian and American soldiers and working with the lightly equipped Montagnards.