Military history of Australia during the Vietnam War combat operations against the communists. Whitlam recognised North Vietnam, which welcomed his electoral success. However, Australian troops remained in Saigon guarding the Australian embassy until 1 July 1973. The withdrawal from Vietnam meant that 1973 was the first time since the beginning of World War II in 1939 that Australia's armed forces were not involved in a conflict somewhere in the world. In total approximately 60,000 Australians—ground troops, air-force and naval personnel—served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1972. 521 died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded. 15,381 conscripted national servicemen served from 1965 to 1972,
1963 in the Vietnam War 25 percent more than the total killed in the previous year. North Vietnam had infiltrated about 40,000 cadres and fighters into South Vietnam over a period of several years. They made up about 50 percent of the Viet Cong army and 80 percent of political operatives and technical personnel. They consisted mostly of southerners who had migrated north in 1954–1955 to reside in a communist state rather than remain in South Vietnam. Units of the North Vietnamese army had not yet been dispatched to South Vietnam. 1963 in the Vietnam War The defeat of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) in