All,
1330 Local Time
31 January 1966
Song Ve Valley, RVN
Operation Double Eagle
Operation Double Eagle kicked off on 28 January 1966, with the intent to locate and destroy the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) 18th and 95th Regiments (which were believed to have infiltrated across the DMZ in December of 1965) and the Viet Cong 2nd Regiment in Quang Ngai Province, while the US Army and ARVN forces kicked off Operation Masher/White Wing just south of the Double Eagle area of operations to destroy the NVA and VC base camps believed to be located there. On 28 January the boys' platoon went ashore with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1) at Red Beach, spending a couple days patrolling in the local area without contact.
On 30 January the boys' platoon became attached to 2/3, while B-52 'Arc Light' strikes were carried out in the Song Ve Valley. The intent was for the battalion to patrol the valley immediately following the B-52 strikes, but this didn't happen due to poor weather in the area, so the boys spent a restless day and night shivering and soaked under their ponchos. The boys' platoon ended up getting sent back to 2/4, which was then lifted by helo into the west end of the Song Ve Valley, from which they began their search.
The boys' platoon has been humping the valley all day, walking the massive line of craters created by the B-52 bombers, while other platoons paralleled them on the ridgelines to the north and south. The problem was that the boys' platoon was massively outpacing the flanking platoons as humping was ten times easier on the floor of the bombed out valley then it was on the heavily jungled ridgelines, cut a million times by jagged ravines. The boys' platoon seemed to call a halt every ten minutes, trying to allow the flankers to catch up, all the while having that very uneasy feeling they were being watched from those very same ridgelines…
Overview, north is to top left, with the squad moving from west (bottom left) to east (top right). At top left is Hill 175, while there's a low ridgeline running north-south at far right. Other than that it's thick jungle broken up only by the craters, burned out areas, and rubble piles left in the wake of the B-52 strikes.
The squad pushes east. It's slow going as the point element takes many breaks to stop, look, and listen for signs of trouble, and the rest of the squad uses that time to search the area. "Look at that, man, VC were definitely here!" said Nelson. The squad was finding all sorts of broken weapons, ammo crates, fuel drums, pieces of bodies, even an overturned truck! "Yeah,' replied Corporal Little, "looks like the Arc Lights hit a VC base camp. Good on'em."
Danny and Tate (top right) are nearing the end of the debris field, with the rest of the squad pulling up behind them, eager to get out of the open area. Nikki (bottom center) paused for a moment for another sip of nice, warm water…
At exactly the moment a burst of AK fire broke out from atop Hill 175 (bottom left)…
And it is immediately joined by another AK from the west (bottom left, with Hill 175 off camera to top left), firing on the Marines (top center/left) from behind!
As the 7.62mm rounds come in, they find flesh! Nikki (bottom right) is struck, drops his canteen, and falls next to it on the jungle floor! Rivera, next to him (red bead) is suppressed, while Cpl Little (yellow bead at top left) is pinned.
Danny and Tate (bottom right) immediately face about and begin working back, trying to find the threat, as Sgt Garcia, Cpl Zamora, Holmes, and Jackson (center/left) all hop into nearby craters, seeking cover, peering over the rim to try and discover the location of their tormenters.
Danny listened intently, and all thoughts of the enemy disappeared when he didn't hear the sound of the M-60 firing, knowing it could only mean one thing. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link
Next fight coming up Sunday night/Monday morning.
V/R,
Jack
discusses the limitations and challenges of working with a low-end 3Dprinter.
