(Read Part 1 here)
(Read Part 2 here)
(Read Part 4 here)
"I hear voices .. someone's coming in!"
There's this cruel dichotomy about an ambush.
Yes, you like hearing voices as Charlie is moving toward his objective. It means they're coming into the ambush kill-zone feeling fat, dumb and happy. It means that they have no idea that they're about to get their ass kicked.
The down side is ... they are so confident that they bring overwhelming firepower with them, there is no way (in their mind) that they can be overwhelmed by whatever firepower might be brought against them.
And the third thing is .. the patrol was positioned under the assumption that they could spot an attacking force at a distance, and be able to act as spotters. Their could call artillery into their movement, and never reveal their own position.
Now .. Charlie had obviously cut the corner on the too-precious trail junction, and were coming in behind the American Patrol!
They had assumed that Charlie .. if he ever had the nerve to enter the AO .. would stick to the trails. Obviously, they had much better understanding of theterrain, and their Point Man had lead them into the slightly much shorter route to their objective.
Two assumptions were immediately obvious to Sarge:
- Charlie knew where they were and where they were going, and we did not.
- There were so MANY of them that they assumed they could immediately and with little effort overwhelm whatever firepower we might have available.
The Bad News was that they were probably right.
American Forces set out as Spotters have a distinct advantage, in that they can call in artillery and Charlie has no way of knowing where the Spotters are. The disadvantage is .. they were too close to call in artillery!
Sarge immediately realized that he didn't know which way Charlie was going to turn. Was he going to the Village, to the East? The ARVN Compound, to the South? Or toward the NDP, toward the South West? He had over-thought his position. Seduced by "The Perfect Ambush Site", he had neglected to consider that he had left himself with insufficient perspective to determine the probable course of Charlie's movement. There was a hole in his defense.
Worse, they were so close that he could not call in artillery on their CURRENT position without accepting the 100% probability that his entire patrol would be killed by their own guns.
Worst, Charlie was so close that even the smallest lapse in light or sound discipline risked discovery by the oncoming VC. The choices were few, and each more fatal than the other:
- They could call in artillery on their projected course (bearing South) and risk the consequences of a wrong estimate; if he called in a barrage to the South, Charlie might move West toward the village;
- They could call in artillery on their alternate goal, West, Charlie might end up moving South toward either the ARVN compound or the NDP
- Worst case: Somebody in his ambush might cough, or otherwise give up their position. In that case, artillery (assuming they had time to call in a fire mission) would perhaps kill Cong, but would most assuredly kill Americans, too.
Faced with no viable artillery solution, Sarge made the only remaining viable decision:
The short squad would attack.
The line of VC in single file just kept getting longer and longer. This was obviously no harassing attack. Whatever their goal, Charlie (now there were at least ten men visible in the starlight) had invested a significant number of fighters. They had not yet bent much to the South, but who knew what they would do when they hit the North/South Trail? And they were moving through the South .. to the rear of the patrol's position.
Most of the Claymores were oriented toward the trail junction, to the North and West of the Ambush Position. Only a few of the Claymores were directed toward the rear. Sarge had made a tactical decision, and it was the wrong one for this situation!
So .. make a 'new' Tactical Decision!
The VC had still not made a 'significant' appearance; because of the high spirits of the VC unit, the patrol knew where they were and their rate of approach. There were still a few precious seconds left when Sarge could direct his men without the VC likely hearing him.
To Ernie:
"When I give the word, move your MG pointing SOUTH instead of NORTH. Have your Assistant Gunner help with moving the ammo when you move the gun. Be quiet, be quick, and when the Claymores blow, shoot your whole ready load moving from left to right. I don't care about the point man, I just want everyone behind the lead element to see their people die!"
To Brent:
"I'm going to blow this ambush. First, radio TOC and tell them I want maximum artillery flares over our position as soon as they see our tracers. Light us up like the Fourth of July! I know they can't reply before we blow the bush, but as soon as they can is not too soon. Then I want them to bring in support .. tanks, preferably. But keep everyone away from the South of our position, because that's where the fire is going. And Brent, when we blow the ambush, everyone is going to be pointing South. You're Rear-Guard .. I want you pointing North, with your rifle, and if you see any thing move ... kill it. Don't wait for me to tell you, it's a free-fire zone everywhere you can see tonight."
General instructions to everybody else (huddled together .. everyone knows what's happening, but not what's about to happen):
"Listen! Be quiet! Charlie is moving through our rear, from left to right. Everybody point their gun to the South. Don't make any battle-rattle! When the Claymores blow, I want Johnie and Teddy to open on full auto; sweep the line! Then reload. Ernie will be rockin' and rollin'.Then reload, and Chief, Stehman ... you'll take up the fire on semi-automatic. As soon as everybody has gone through one magazine and reloaded, take targets of opportunity. We are in deep shit, so make it count and follow my lead after the claymores blow!"
Everybody, not expecting anything 'bad' to REALLY happen, has doffed their helmets in favor of boonie-hats. We can't afford the risk of a "CLANK!" if a helmet bumps a gun, so we're blowing this bush the way we are.
Then, to Brent, Sarge says:
"Look, we have four Claymores generally pointed in the right direction. Toward the enemy. You take East/Rear and I'll take West/Rear. Fill your hands, and when I blow my two, you blow your two! Then I want you to advise TOC, and pick up your rifle. You are the new 'rear security. Face North. If you see anyone moving there, kill them. But keep talking to TOC, and for God's Sake, get us some light!"
Brent doesn't waste time protesting that he has already heard most of these instructions. He's unflappable .. Sarge at that moment wants to bear his children. Brent just picks up the appropriate 'clackers', and waits for the signal to kill some Cong.
There's a few moments, which seem like hours but actually are seconds, and then everyone has move so their weapons are pointed toward the rear. Brent has his headset between ear and shoulder, and two Claymore Initiators (clackers) in his hands. Sarge is ready. The men have moved their weapons so they are pointed south.
Sarge gives Brent the nod, and they both squeeze the Clackers ...
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Pandemonium!
Dust flies up from the Claymores, even the two which aren't really pointed South .. East and West Claymores just add Sound and Fury to the mixture.
Two men, who are already pointed South, open up with their M16s, the rest roll over to point to the South.
Ernie takes two seconds to actually move his gun .. and it's not important whether he's quiet about it or not, because there is a fountain of 5.56 moving south and the echo of the Claymores and the dust they kick up obscure the battlefield!
Brent is online with TOC, calling for back-up and Illumination Rounds.
Sarge is servicing the battlefield with his onboard HE round, and quickly switches to the first StarLight round he finds, and then seeks for and loads a Parachute Flare.
The light from the local illumination round shows a couple of people down in the Kill Zone. Can't tell where the point man is, and the followers are rushing back toward the woods.
What happens next can only be described as a "Mad Minute". EVERYBODY shoots their initial load. It doesn't matter what Sarge said, everybody shoots. They are scared to death, they have a ton of Victor Charlie within spitting distance of them, and all they want to do is to put every body down and then go home!
The best laid plans of mice and men ....
Ernie .. does not run out of ammunition. He has 300 rounds of linked 7.62 and he is taking nicely timed short bursts. But they go everywhere that someone is still standing in front of him, or everywhere he thinks someone may be still standing up. Or where-ever it is dark, and someone may be hiding there. Or where-ever his barrel may be pointing. He doesn't care, he's just putting rounds down-range, and that's all that really matters. Sarge takes a moment, no more, to admire his discipline and his aim.
Ernie's Assistant Gunner (in this case, Johnny, because he ends up on the left side of Ernie) feeds the gun. Johnie is not an experienced AG, but he has an ammo can in reach and he's doing the best he can to link the new belt with the old.
Thankfully, by the time Ernie runs out of ammo, there's nothing obvious left to shoot at. The rest of the patrol does an automatic reload, and all are left with the realization that their jaws are dropped and they are looking at a field of nightmares .. but it's not THEIR nightmares.
In the meantime, in the sudden silence, Sarge is shouting.
"RELOAD! Everybody, Reload! I don't care whether you need it or not, RELOAD!"
Instinctively, everyone who is still alive obeys.
Thankfully, every American is still alive.
"Okay!" Sarge shouts.
"We're all locked and loaded. Everybody UP! We're going to sweep the kill zone. Anybody still alive, kill them! Keep going until I tell you to stop! Attack! Attack! Attack! Now, Up and At 'Em!"
__________________________
Brent doesn't move. He's sitting where he started, except he's facing North, where Sarge told him to pull rear security. He's talking to TOC, asking for artillery illumination. He's calm, he's fully aware of the tactical situation, but that's not his job. His job is to (a) get some light on the kill zone, and (b) get tactical support to the battleground ASAP, and (c) let Command what is going on in this most beautiful, most perfectly exquisitely executed ambush anyone has ever seen .. a thing if beauty it is!
And he is STILL watching to the North, in case any tail-gaters try to flank the unit.
__________________________
And while Brent is doing his job with joie de vivre and Great Aplomb .. everyone else is doing THEIR job with savagery and the greatest adrenalin rush they will ever experience.
Their job, as they sweep the battlefield, is to kill everything that moves.
There is no other way to do it.
EVERYONE caught in that limited scope of dead ground, is .. dead. Nothing less is acceptable. Anyone found there is assumed to be armed and dangerous. There is no time to separate the Quick from the Dead. If they are there ... they should be dead. If they are not dead, it is our task to make them dead.
The alternatives are too horrible to consider, even more horrible than shooting wounded soldiers. They are the enemy; they want to kill us. That's why we call them "The Enemy".
The Woman:
As Sarge rushes down his lane across The Killing Field, in his peripheral vision he sees a woman in black pajamas, on her back, squirming. Writhing. She is assuming the "Dying Cockroach" position .. limbs in the air .. but not yet dead. In some back part of his mind, he wonders what this woman in black pajamas is doing in a Killing Field?
His wonderment lasts only for a few seconds. Chief, with his M14, is in the next lane to his left. The woman is in Chief's lane. Chief drills the woman with a half-dozen rounds from his M14, and suddenly the woman reverts to dead meat.
Sarge peripherally wonders what the woman was doing here. Was she a guide? Was she a captive of the VC? Was she .. who knows what?
It doesn't matter. She ended up in the Kill Zone, and now she's dead Dead DEAD. Who she was, why she was there .. that isn't important. What is important is that she is now nothing more than a mound of meat. She will have no effect on the outcome of this battle. She cannot hurt his men. That's all that matters.
Sometime, in future years, Sarge may regret her death.
Sometime, in future years, Sarge may wonder at her role in this ... this "action".
But for now, she's just a target, caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. For now, she is dismissed. Target Down; that's all that matters.
Given a choice between here and Chief, Sarge will choose Chief .. every damned time, for now and forever.
