Once LT Blutarski got SFC Throckmorton, his squad leaders, and the TC together, they came up with a plan. 2nd Platoon/Charlie Company would advance in patrol column up the path leading to the objectives. Once they got close to the objectives, they would deploy with the attached M48 going left to get up on the hill, and SFC Throckmorton would take 2nd squad and an M60 team right of the path. It would be 2nd squad's mission to assault the hamlet. The LT would lead 1st squad and the other M60 team up the path and left of it. It would be their job to protect the M48, and to assault the bridge. Their medic would be where he thought he needed to be. Either the LT or SFC Throckmorton could call for mortar fire with their RTOs. Mind you, contact with the enemy could change things, but that was the plan.
With that in mind, 2nd Platoon hit the SP right on time. Here's the battlefield they came up on...
As they advanced in patrol column up the path, LT Blutarski heard shouts of "Contact front! Infantry in the open!" He looked north, and could indeed see enemy infantry advancing south down the same path they were advancing northward on. It looked like a platoon-sized element of mixed PAVn and VC. And it looked like they had RPGs and a DShK!
"Deploy! Deploy!" shouted the LT. With that, his Platoon Sergeant, Squad Leaders, and the TC all did as planned and ordered.
His opposite number on the other side of the stream did the same thing.
Most of the PAVN and VC went east, toward the hamlet. And they were bunched up. LT Blutarski grabbed the mic from his RTO: "Black 6, White 6. Fire Mission, over" "White 6, send it, over." "Black 6, fire mission. Infantry in the open. Grid 184832. Fire for effect, over." A minute or 2 later, 3 81mm mortar rounds landed among the bunched up PAVN and VC. From where the LT was, it looked like several PAVN and VC were taken out by the mortars. "That oughta do it", the LT thought to himself. "Black 6, White 6, Target destroyed, mission complete, over." "White 6, roger, out".
While LT Blutarski was calling in the mortars, his men were advanced according to the plan.
Meanwhile, it took the PAVN and VC a few minutes to sort themselves out after the mortar barrage. What the US LT didn't know yet, was that the mortar fire had killed the PAVN commander and his bugler, as well as almost all of the DShK crew, not to mention several PAVN regulars and VC.
But, once they sorted themselves out, the PAVN and VC got back on the move. 2 RPG teams went right to go tank hunting, while most of them went left, toward the hamlet.
LT Blutarski and his RTO hurried up to catch up with his men, who by now had reached the stream, while the M48 provided overwatch from the small hill.
The PAVN and VC tried to put up a fight, even wounding a few GIs - the US medic was busy for a short while. But after the US mortar strike, and the pounding they were getting from the M48, they couldn't quite get it going.
With US troops holding the bridge and the stream, 2nd Squad assaulted the hamlet. After a hot little firefight, they took it.
The remaining PAVN and VC had finally had enough. They melted back north, leaving the hill, bridge, and hamlet in US hands...
And with that, the fight was over. And it went about as we thought it might. US firepower and tactics won the day, and their flak vests saved a few of them from serious wounds. BUT, it could have gone very differently.
The evening before we played them game, my brother and I played 6 turns of the scenario so my brother could brush up on the rules. By the end of the 6th turn, RPGs had roughed up the M48, and the VC were in sole possession of the hamlet. And the bridge was contested. Both sides had taken quite a few casualties, and the company mortars apparently were too busy to bother with the requested fire missions. A PAVN/VC win was possible had we played it out to the 10th turn. Unfortunately, we were focused on getting my brother up to speed on the rules, so I didn't take any photos...
Hope whoever read this enjoyed it....
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April 22, 2025, 08:24:43 AM
February 02, 2025, 07:07:24 PM