States for support on a reimbursable basis. At the end of September the Australians augmented their infantry battalion with a 105-mm. howitzer battery, a field engineer troop, and an air reconnaissance flight. With the addition of another signal troop, the year-end Australian strength in South Vietnam reached 1,557.
It was also in May 1965 that the government of New Zealand decided to replace its engineer detachment with a combat force and announced the decision to deploy a 105-mm. howitzer battery. The battery arrived in Vietnam on 21 July and was attached to the U.S. 173d Airborne Brigade. Its primary mission was to support the Australian battalion. Like the Australians, the New Zealanders were also under the operational control of General Westmoreland, with the United States providing administrative and logistical support on a reimbursable basis. At the end of 1965, 119 New Zealanders were fighting alongside their Australian comrades.
General Westmoreland's long-range goal was for the nations of Australia and New Zealand to deploy a full Australian-New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) brigade during the coming year. As a short-range objective, he hoped for the immediate deployment of an additional Australian battalion. This matter was still unresolved by the end of the year.
After the United States, the nation providing the greatest amount of assistance to South Vietnam in 1965 was the Republic of Korea. In January, after an official request, the Korean government deployed a task force consisting of an army engineer battalion with necessary support and self-defense troops for work in the field of civic action. The main party of this "Dove Unit," as it was called, arrived on 16 March and was was based at Di An in Bien Hoa Province. The military working arrangement between General Westmoreland and the Korean commander, Major General Chae Myung-Shin, stated that the task force would function under the operating parameters established by the Free World Military Assistance Policy Council. The council consisted of the chief of staff of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Major General Richard G. Stilwell (later replaced by the commander himself); the senior Korean commander; and the chief of the Joint General Staff, Brigadier General Cao Van Vien, who was the council chairman. The council provided operational guidance for, not control of, Free World forces. The working agreement also stated that the Korean unit would be responsive to the over-all commander in any given area.
