Defense of Hill 781 (21 page)

But they had made progress. Only two vehicles and a few infantrymen had been lost to enemy fire in the north. As far as he could tell, all remaining vehicles and soldiers were still en route, headed in the right direction. It was from the units in JOHN WAYNE pass that he had heard nothing. By midnight this was a critical vacuum, its silence deafening. Accordingly, Always ordered Captain Dilger to send out his lead platoon leader to make contact with the scouts. Soon he would have to decide which way to commit his forces. He wished his headache would go away.

Always could not know the consternation he was causing the enemy, who had expected to be attacked from along the road. When he came under fire from Alpha Team along Route DIRECT SOUTH, it threw him into disarray. His artillery had not been planned there. Most of his night vision devices had been situated in the north. The remainder had been left behind to watch the pass. The continued pressure by Always’ battalion caused him to shift his forces from Hill 781 to Hill 760. The order had been passed so that the night vision devices could be moved to where the action was breaking. In the confusion that dark often brings, the order had precipitated a withdrawal of the enemy from his position around Checkpoint 2. By the time the enemy commander discovered the error, he concluded it
was all for the better. Repeated sightings of enemy infantrymen and vehicles had inflated the reports, convincing him that the entire effort was being made along the direct approach. He was quickly shifting his forces south and west of Hill 760 to stop Always’ attack.

When Delta’s Lieutenant Sampson made contact with the engineers clearing the last obstacle at CP 2, the enemy was long gone, a fact confirmed by the scouts. He could get no assurance that yet more obstacles, perhaps covered by enemy, did not lie between him and Hill 781. Momentarily he was thrown into a quandary.

His orders had been to link up with the scouts to determine if the way was clear. He understood that the decision to commit Delta and Echo rested with that information. He also understood that time was fleeting, that if he waited for absolute confirmation, the moment would have passed. In order for the two companies to get up to Hill 781 in time to assist the assault on 760, he would have to speed back and bring them up now. Yet if he did that and the way was unclear, they would never be in position in time to help the action. Worse yet, they could run into a buzz saw and get chopped to pieces.

Sampson considered the alternatives. He was smart enough to understand that there was a convenient way to avoid the responsibility. He need only to follow out his orders to the letter, which meant waiting until he could get a clear picture. He certainly could not be faulted for that.

But escapism was not in him. He felt a responsibility for this action. This feeling of obligation had been put there by his company commander. It had been put there by the few minutes he had talked with Lieutenant Colonel Always. It had been put there by his training. Most of all, it had been put there by his devotion to his men. He made a decision. If the enemy had not taken advantage of the best position from which to defend, then most likely he would not be on the poor ground between
CP 2 and Hill 781. Even if the enemy had put obstacles out there, the ground was open enough to find a way around them. It was now more a problem of terrain navigation than anything else. And he was confident that he could find his way to the objective. He decided to go back, give his opinion that the way was open, and recommend that Delta and Echo come down JOHN WAYNE pass. In that decision, Lieutenant Sampson gave the battalion the chance it needed to take 760.

When Always got word that the pass was open, it was already 0100. He studied his map and tried to calculate the time-distance factors. His mind was finding it difficult to focus. Twice he lost track of what he was doing. On the third try, and only with great effort, he was able to focus long enough to determine that without resistance and without getting lost, they could close on Hill 781 by 0330. He gave the order for Delta and Echo to move out, and immediately got jammed. He never even heard if they rogered his order. By the time he had shifted frequency again, they were gone.

Charlie and Alpha came abreast of the probable line of deployment (PLD) at 0234. There had been one heavy fight in the vicinity of Checkpoint 3, where a platoon of tanks had established an ambush position. But the opposing tanks had opened fire early and nervously, and Captain Archer had been able to fix their positions by their fire and move his infantrymen against them. In such a face-off, if the infantrymen can stay under cover until they close, and if there is no enemy infantry to thicken the defense, the advantage lies with the attacker. Accordingly, the enemy had stood his ground until the loss of the first tank told him that he was compromised. With that he had pulled out his remaining three tanks, two of which were destroyed immediately by the Abrams tanks attached to Captain Archer.

Always had correctly deduced that the bulk of the defending enemy was to the south of Hill 760. In his mind this dictated that he should commit Bravo in the north, behind Charlie, the
principle being strength against weakness. Alpha would have to conduct a fixing attack. It would be rough going for Captain Archer, but he was a solid commander and the best bet for such a high-risk operation. If the main attack went in violently enough, it would relieve the pressure on Archer before doing him irreparable damage. If only he knew what Evans and Dilger were up to! He had sent Major Rogers after them when he could not gain radio contact, but so far all that had gotten him was the loss of Rogers.

But this was no time for equivocation. The infantrymen would begin to make their dismounted approach immediately. At 0310 the combat vehicles would cross the PLD. Carter would press on to CP 8 while Baker went into the north side of Hill 760. Archer would assault the south side of 760, then move on to link up with Carter, Bravo sweeping the objective to make sure all enemy were dead or captured. Infantry forces would give their exact location at 0305 so that an artillery preparation could soften the defenses on 760.

The last five minutes of the order had been passed through a barrage of jamming, bleeps, whistles, stuttering, and screeches. Always dismounted his Bradley once again to find Carter and Baker in their vehicles, to ensure that they, at least, had gotten the order. He was determined to make good on his vow. He would be on the objective by first light, due at a few minutes after four. If he could have at least Bravo and Charlie with him, so much the better.

A reinforced enemy motorized rifle company had begun the defense of 760. The loss of a platoon of tanks had reduced that to approximately a company-sized element, two platoons of which were now out of position on the south side of the hill. A few reconnaissance elements in the area had added their support to the defenders, one of them destroyed while trying to link up with an outpost at CP 3. The BRDM at CP 4 was the only element guarding the backside approach. When the artillery
started falling at 0325 he shifted to CP 6, to see better what was happening atop 760. He was afraid he might be abandoned at his post in the rush of the night fighting. His commander’s voice was sounding increasingly shaky as the night progressed.

The task force’s infantry had found and breached the thin wire obstacles on both sides of Hill 760. According to the prearranged signal, they marked them with chemical lights. It was through this breach that Charlie and Alpha rushed in at 0330. Instantly the night was ablaze with flashes of light. The two enemy platoons in the south put up a stiff resistance for the first few moments. But their positions were unprepared, having been shifted during the confusion of the night. They did not have the advantage they otherwise would have. Two of Alpha’s Bradleys were hit, one of them Archer’s, killing the Stinger gunner in the rear and leaving the crew uninjured. But the enemy took two hits as well. Their platoon leaders, tough veterans of many battles, remained unshaken. The position there hung in the balance.

At that moment the reconnaissance vehicle at CP 6 sighted Delta making a swift approach from the south, Lieutenant Sampson in the lead. The enemy scout yelled a warning over his company net, then pulled out toward 760. One of the defender’s BMPs saw the movement and, not believing there to be any of his compatriots in that direction, opened fire on him. The BRDM, now in a state of panic, pursued by two companies of Always’ battalion and drawing fire from his own company, returned fire at the BMP, nearly hitting it and sending shrapnel pinging off other defenders. That was the straw that broke the back of the defense. Caught in a cross fire and alarmed by the report of a large enemy force approaching unimpeded from the south, the defenders pulled out to the northwest. The movement brought them by the rear of their own platoon to the north of 760 and across the front of Charlie Company coming in at CP 8. The startling effect unhinged the northern platoon, which joined in
the dash for safety. By 0336 Hill 760 was taken. Always had his prize, and at little cost.

He took the reports with a sense of elation. Bravo was sweeping over the top of the hill. The infantrymen were coming up to link up with their vehicles. Delta and Echo were consolidating on 781. The engineers and the scouts were fast closing in on them.

It was in the next few minutes that fatigue overtook the battalion. The radios had gone silent, all necessary reports having been rendered. The infantry went to ground, waiting for the final few minutes of darkness to pass before they found their vehicles. The vehicle crews paused for the infantrymen and the rest of their units to close together. They became frozen in a world halfway between light and dark, excusing their inactivity with the implication that each was to wait for the other. One by one, men dropped off to sleep. Leaders, allowing themselves a moment’s pause after the exertions of the night attack, at first did not notice the stillness, then succumbed to fatigue in varying degrees themselves. Always’ warning of a counterattack was a forgotten statement.

The colonel too let down his guard. Climbing down from his vehicle command post, he made a call to Major Walters on the administration and logistics net from the radio in the back of the Bradley. The driver had dropped the ramp, and the vehicle was darkened to maintain light security. Always encouraged Major Walters to bring up whatever vehicles had been repaired during the night to Hill 760 just before dawn, and his XO responded that he would comply. The commander looked at his watch, saw it was 0346, and allowed himself a short moment to catch his breath. In the stillness of the early morning darkness, lulled by the whining of the Bradley engine, he slipped into slumber.

A last spate of will, his subconscious mind a residue of his conscious determination, jerked him to sudden wakefulness. He glanced at his watch. It was 0410, A faint light was coming
into the sky. “Damn! The counterattack!” Always climbed back into the cupola.

For five minutes he called frantically on the radio. No commander answered. Despite his best efforts he could get only the TOC, Major Walters, and the air defense platoon leader. He ordered all three to keep trying by whatever means possible to raise the unit, then he ran to the artillery officer’s personnel carrier. He climbed the track and banged harshly on the hatch. “Wake up! Wake up! God damn it, wake up!” The sky was showing a faint blackish blue. It was getting lighter.

The air force officer stuck out his head. Always yelled at him. “Get everybody up in there, then start moving around waking people up. Tell them to get ready.”

He received a dumbfounded look in return. “Damn it! Do what I tell you. Get moving!” Always wanted to hit him. The officer started scrambling to get the others up.

Always ran back to his own track, grabbed Spivey by the arm, and shook him awake. “Come on. Let’s go. We’ve got to get the battalion up.” On the way into his cupola he poked Sergeant Kelso, also asleep at his position on the gun. The anger, if not his determination to get the battalion ready to fight, was now leaving Always.

He had made it to five positions when the first signs of dust appeared several kilometers off to the northwest. The horizon was now light enough so that the dust trails were visible. The enemy was coming, and there were a lot of them.

A few of the leaders were up and about now, struggling desperately to wake the others. It was as if the task force had been hit with a potent sleeping gas. Soldiers were knocked out everywhere. Now, Bradleys were pulling up beside other Bradleys, firing their 25mm guns at the sky, trying to save a precious few seconds in waking up sleeping crews. Slowly the radio nets came to life. Hill 760 would be awake for the fight, but it would not be consolidated. It would be a free-for-all. The few minutes
before and after 0400 would have made all the difference in the world. What would have been a coordinated defense against a desperate counterattack now became a meeting engagement at best. Worst of all, the forces on 781 were too far away to do any good until 760 had been overrun. Always stared at the oncoming forces. He estimated about two battalions were racing to close with him.