"Two Brothers Fight #5" Topic

All,

0130 Local Time
18 November 1965
Near Hoi An, RVN
Operation Blue Marlin II

Following the end of Operation Blue Marlin I, the boys re-boarded the amphibious shipping and sailed to Chu Lai, where 3/7 was offloaded. They went ashore and to a couple days of rest, before it was time to re-board the ships for Operation Blue Marlin II, this time with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines. They sailed south and landed 22 miles south of Da Nang on 16 November 1965, where they wheeled right and pushed north towards the confluence of the Song Truong Giang and Song Cua Dai (Song = River). The Marines have spent two days humping the bush east of the Song Truong Giang without contact, while two battalions of ARVN Rangers have done the same west of the river.

The boys got a new squad leader, Sergeant Garcia, and the Platoon Sergeant, SSgt Dunn, briefed him on his squad's mission to babysit a bridge tonight. "The bridge was previously guarded by an ARVN detachment, the squad wouldn't be receiving any attachments, arty would be on call, though no one is expecting any trouble tonight. The Company Gunny was out there right now with a squad from 2nd Platoon. You now stand detached; go forth and do good things! And good luck, Sgt Garcia."

Overview, north is up. A tributary of the Truong Giang River runs north and south, with a few sampans moored at the northern end. There are hamlets present in the northeast (top right) and southwest (bottom left), a finger of Hill 275 protrudes south in the northwest (top left), there's a rice paddy in the southeast, and thick patches of jungle dot the landscape. The bridge is not fortified, but there are sandbagged emplacements surrounding it.

The Marines moved into the defensive positions; Sgt Garcia and Nelson took the small bunker at left, while 1st Fireteam went into the SE bunker (bottom right), 2nd Fireteam went into the West bunker (far left), and 3rd Fireteam went into the NE bunker (top right). The Marines settled in for the night, with each bunker going to 33% and the command bunker going to 50% (only two of them in the bunker).

At exactly 0130 the cough of distant mortar tubes could be heard to the northeast, and approximately thirty seconds later five 82mm HE rounds rained down around the bridge's defensive positions.

Immediately following the mortar impacts, the VC 1st (off camera to left) and 3rd Squads (top right) launched rockets at the Marine defenders…

On the east side of the bridge, a rocket slammed into the SW Bunker, suppressing Cpl Little and Nikki.

And the Viet Cong come streaming out of the jungle to overwhelm the Marines defending the bridge!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link

Next fight coming soon.

V/R,
Jack

Just read this today, Jack

Your AAR couldn't be written more realistic. This is by far
your best yet. Reading them, it is hard to realize that this
is from a solo game with AI opposition. From your homework,
terrain building, scenario design and input from your own
experience it just don't get any better than this!

The folks here on TMP who have not linked to your AARs or read or commented here are really missing out. Keep 'em coming.
Looking forward to the next and all of your upcoming works.
Sure are enjoying them. It is great that you are adding detail background work to fit the time and year. I keep having trouble reading these and not thinking 1968. Again,
these are simply great.

Semper Fi,

Sam

jack
outstanding work particularly for a marine! this is exactly what platoon forward was written for.
not much time to game right now with covid spiking. we have doubled up in our icu. I am actually having to work and solve problems! that is what captains are for!
partially inspired by this I hope to take out my arvn acav out this weekend
great stuff jack!
cheers

Joe

Damn. It remains true that I do not know how to take a compliment; my gut is telling me to respond with some wise-ass comments, but I'll fight it off and simply say "thank you." And I'll leave for another day my reply to what Captains are actually for ;)

I am deeply gratified to receive such praise; remember, I started this off warily, not sure how everyone would take me posting Vietnam-era fights, especially at such a personal level. I couldn't be happier with the warm welcome ;) And the more the merrier, but even if it's just a couple folks out there reading and enjoying these, I'm happy.

I'm doing my best to at least sort of keep it time specific: in this tour you'll notice the Marines go from "Gung Ho, go get'em, not gonna be outdone by some farmers in black pajamas," to a healthy respect for Sir Charles and some seasoning that realizes there's a time to close with and destroy the enemy, and there's a time to hold fast and let supporting fires work it out.

I certainly hope you're able to scratch out some time to play and post, Joe, you're a huge piece of the engine that set me down this path. And Sam, if you like these, just wait until we get to Operation Utah (fights 12 through 17)! Honestly, I should have just quit after them, not sure how I could top them ;)

I'll post fight #6 Wednesday or Thursday.

V/R,
Jack