"Two Brothers Fight #8" Topic

All,

0930 Local Time
19 December 1965
Phuoc Ha Valley, RVN
Operation Harvest Moon

Everyone knew the Operation was scheduled to wrap up tomorrow, then they'd return to Da Nang and get a rest as the Christmas truce kicked in. But the op wasn't over yet; the squad was thankful for not having to stand watch the previous night, but now they were back to normal, back at it, having chowed down on some cold C-rats, brushed their teeth and shaved with some cold water, stomped in their holes, hoisted their packs, and set off into the jungle, searching for the enemy. They'd been humping for several hours already when the sound of gunfire and explosions could be heard in the distance. The Platoon called a halt and Sergeant Garcia signaled the squad to take a knee and face outboard, pulling security while he moved to Jackson and propped the radio handset between his shoulder and ear, listening and narrating for the squad. "Golf Company is on point and's got contact… They got casualties, calling for fire and MEDEVAC… VC are attempting to flank, separate them from the rest of the battalion. Fox Company is moving right to head it off… Fox is in contact, taking casualties… Arty is pounding the VC in front of Golf, but they're not pulling back… Air is on the way… VC in front of Fox broke contact, Fox will be on the move in about ten mikes… Air says they got dinks moving to the west, trying the other flank… Uh-oh…"

Once again the 'uh-oh' was a call to action for the squad. Their platoon was being sent west to head off this new threat to the US flank, but it was a lot of ground to cover and so the three squads were assigned sectors, not really tied into each other. "The Lootenat assures me we're not out there with our asses hanging in the wind, that Echo Company is regrouping and will be right behind us, we just gotta head the dinks off and hold'em until Echo arrives. Alright, let's move!"

Overview, north is up. There is a hardball road running north/south in the west (left), and you can just see the bend in a nearby river in the southeast (bottom right), while there's a small village in the north-northwest (top center left), butted up against a low ridge in the west (far left). There's a relatively large hill in the east (far right) that's heavily wooded, and thick jungle dots the landscape, aside from the open areas covered by rice paddies. The Marines, harried on by Sergeant Garcia to head off the enemy, have the advantage here. They have hustled to their assigned location and taken up hasty defensive positions in hopes of ambushing the flanking Viet Cong, whom they expect to enter from the northeast (top right).

The Marines (bottom left and bottom right) open fire on the Viet Cong (top center), catching the enemy crossing some rice paddies.

But the VC quickly recover, returning fire with their AKs and an RPG.

Which allows several VC to escape the kill zone, getting into the village (top right, center, and bottom left), where they work to flank the Marines.

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

Next fight coming up Sunday night or Monday morning.

V/R,
Jack

That's a nice"L" shaped ambush the Marines had set up. Did the VC detect them first or did the Marines open fire first? Ideally, they should have waited for the VC to get closer.

Wolfhag

Wolf,

Not bad, but not perfect as the base of the 'L' actually wasn't in a true enfilading position, and the Marines initiated the ambush. They had to open fire when they did lest they allow the VC to get into cover in the village. Indeed, even as it was, the VC point element got into the village and attempted to flank, which resulted in the death of Washington.

What, no comments on the boys' wetdown? ;)

V/R,
Jack

Jack,
Hated to see the squad lose Washington. The squad got a little
payback but it sure does not make up for the loss. Another great looking table. All I can say is that you sure write
great from an old grunt platoon sgt! ;-). Still hard to believe these are AARs and not well done historical fiction.
Looking forward to the next.
Sam

Sam,

Yeah, Washington being KIA really sucked, but there really wasn't anything I could do without outright cheating. I will admit that I already 'lower-case' cheat; for example, if four guys are hit, I'll roll up four results and kinda assign them to guys as I see fit, but if only one guy gets hit and you roll up a "KIA," not much you can do…

Regarding the old Platoon Sergeant comment, well, I had to quit eat the crayons once I had children, and regarding the historical fiction, Wolf says his buddy is interested. I'll have to look into it at some point, just not lots of time to mess with something like that right now.

V/R,
Jack