All,
It's 3 Oct 1967, four days later and we're in the "stuff" again… First off, a few days ago a Sergeant named Banaszak was transferred in from the 199th Infantry to replace Sgt Greene, and everyone is back on full duty except Spec4 Harris, so the squad is out beating the bush with ten strong backs.
The battalion has continued to spend time looking west around Ap Bac14, but no contact has been made since the squad eviscerated that VC supply train. The battalion has shifted north, and 2nd Platoon has squads patrolling north of the hamlet called Nam Pla 6, while the squad is patrolling south. The squad actually had moved southeast about a klick past Nam Pla when 2nd Platoon past a sitrep stating they were in contact on the north shoulder of Nam Pla. They hadn't hit anything in the nearby jungle, but as soon as they turned in towards the ville all hell broke loose, and Alpha-6 believes Nam Pla is the VC's base of operations. 2nd Plt confirms this with reports that the VC are putting up a pretty stout defense to the north, trying to hold open a hole for numerous teams of porters to escape to the west with all their food, weapons, and ammunition.
SSgt Bleier gets the squad turned around, but can't link up with the rest of 1st Platoon in the dense vegetation; from the chatter on the radio, it sounds like the other two squads are totally disoriented. The Lt orders all three squad leaders to make their own way to blocking positions on the west side of Nam Pla to halt the VC evacuation. Bleier gets his squad moving, but they have their own troubles with the terrain, a series of razorback ridges and dense forest. When the squad finally hits the flatland and is close enough to hear the firing, they are in the treeline directly south of Nam Pla, with token enemy forces swinging about to cover the retreat of their comrades carrying heavy loads west towards salvation…
Overview, north is up. The eastern edge of Nam Pla is at top left; the VC MLR, in contact with 2nd Platoon, is off camera at top left. There are a few VC fighters in the ville, while five porter teams can be seen departing the village, and a few more fighters are in the top right (NE) corner on Hill 45. The US squad is at bottom left and bottom center.
Victor Charles riflemen behind wall laying down covering fire for the porters to make good their escape.
Sgt Banaszak leads the assault on the ville: lots of combat stress (red dice), SSgt Bleier (just off camera at top right) is lightly wounded, and the VC have a man down behind the wall.
Holmes tests morale and passes like a champion (he's been very reliable in all three fights so far). He sprints ahead up to the intersection (bottom center, with Sgt Russell on other side of trail), using the palm trees at right to screen him from fire coming from Hill 45. Holmes knows they need to stop the VC porters (top), so he sights in a fires twice, missing both times, but adding stress.
The squad is taking its toll on the escaping porter teams (and yes, I'm embarrassed that I'm using WWII German casualties for my VC).
Holmes and Stallworth capture a porter team.
VC losses:
5 down KIA
6 captured (2 seriously wounded and two lightly wounded)
5 others survived by running from Bleier's trained killers
US losses:
PFC Blount was hit in the arm but is immediately available for duty.
Sgt Russell was hit in the calf but is also immediately available for duty.
Pvt Greenwood was hit in shoulder and was evacuated to BAS for 9 days.
SSgt Bleier stayed in the fight, but it was actually a lot worse than they first thought. He thought he'd had a round bounce off his ribcage, but it turns out the round came apart and he's suffering pretty bad internal injuries. Bleier is being evacuated to Japan and will be gone for the next couple months.
The games are rolling off the assembly line, having a great time. For the rest of the fight, please check the blog at:
link
V/R,
Jack
