to be or not to be

It was a terrifying night for a number of Australians wounded as the VIET CONG surrounded the wounded and started removing there own wounded.
Morning showed that the VIET CONG forces (approximately 2500 had many casualties) 240 VIET CONG bodies were found.
The VIET CONG commanders had under estimated the effect of artillery fire and had paid dearly for the mistake.

The Australians had 18 dead, 17 from D company (Including the young platoon commander of the 11th platoon) and...