Shah Wali Kot: Inside story of Australia's greatest modern battle and how Ben Roberts-Smith won the VC

West Australian

2 days ago

Few Australians know of Malcolm Goodwin, a Mt Isa truck driver who played a pivotal role in the army's greatest modern victory, a story lost amid recriminations over the Afghanistan war that persist today.
The son of Maltese immigrants, Goodwin joined an army transport unit after high school. One day, waiting in line for food on an exercise in Queensland, he saw a soldier ahead of him with an unkempt beard and unusual-looking uniform.
Told the man was a member of the special forces, the young private was intrigued. He joined the 2nd Commando Regiment, and found himself on June 10, 2010, standing guard in the Taliban stronghold of Shah Wali Kot when he was attacked by a least three Taliban machine gunners.
Four or five Afghan policemen meant to support him fled. Alone, Private Goodwin fought for 45 minutes as the talibs closed in on a waist-high pit he had turned into a foxhole.
Finally, fearing he was about to overrun and killed, Private Goodwin stood and emptied the entire 30-bullet magazine on his M4 carbine at the attackers.
The 23-year-old's bravery, which helped save an entire commando platoon, was recognised with a Commendation for Gallantry medal for showing 'enormous courage and resolve under direct and effective insurgent fire'.
The day after his firefight, Private Goodwin watched four Black Hawks carry in an SAS unit to the nearby village of Tizak. He and other commandos heard a roar of fire as the helicopters approached and watched as rocket-propelled grenades flew up from the ground.
One of the solders in the helicopters was Ben Roberts-Smith, a few hours away from an assault on a machine-gun nest with five other soldiers for which he would be awarded the Victoria Cross. Mark Wales, a former SAS officer and TV celebrity who knew many of the soldiers involved, described the battle as 'one of Australia's finest military feats: savage, bloody and hard-won.'
The two fights — one involving the commandos and the other the SAS — would be become known as the Battle of Shah Wali Kot. The Army decided they were so important it recognised the commandos, the SAS and their American pilots with the first battle honours since the Vietnam War.
A battle honour is a formal recognition of a historically important victory. It signifies that it was the most significant military success of Australia's longest war, a war that has since become almost universally associated with allegations of military misconduct, including the execution of prisoners.
I have written a minute-by-minute account of the Battle of Shah Wali Kot, and its devastating aftermath. Called The Last Battle, the title is a reference to the unlikelihood future Australian officers, in the era of drone warfare, would send lightly armed soldiers on a frontal attack on an enemy stronghold.
A photo taken during the battle of Private Goodwin's close friend, Dean Parkinson, holding an M4 at dawn will appear on the cover.
If the photo looks familiar, that's because it became one of the war's enduring images after being circulated to media outlets by the Defence Department. By explaining the story behind the photo, The Last Battle will give Australians an opportunity to look at it in a new way — and the 20-year war.
Thousands of articles and many books have been written about the conflict, the way the special forces fought and Mr Roberts-Smith's conduct. The Last Battle reveals a new story — one of incredible skill, courage and resilience under almost unimaginable danger.
Mistakes were made, including communication failures that could have killed Mr Roberts-Smith and his unit. But the SAS and commandos triumphed through professionalism, determination and courage, epitomised by the humble immigrants' son from country Queensland.
Before Australians judge their warriors, they should hear the whole story.
The Last Battle
by Nightly Chief Writer Aaron Patrick will be published by Macmillan Australia on Tuesday 28th October. It is available for pre-order
here