Two Brothers in Vietnam

Started by bigjackmac, 04 January 2021, 04:31:42 AM

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Duke Speedy of Leighton

Great report, lovely set up too.
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Techno II


bigjackmac

Thank you, gentlemen.

V/R,
Jack

bigjackmac

All,

1130 Local Time
11 November 1965
Near Tam Ky, 15 miles north of Chu Lai, RVN
Operation Blue Marlin I

Two days ago the boys boarded landing craft, which deposited them at 'Green Beach' about 15 miles north of Chu Lai Airbase yesterday (don't worry, the Corps brought out enough with the nightly resupply helos for everyone to get a couple bites of cake and a warm beer).  The squad was now attached to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, which was working in conjunction with the Vietnamese 2nd Marine Battalion.  Once ashore the US Marines peeled left and began pushing southeast between the Song Tam Ky and Song Truong Giang (Song = River), parallel to Route 1, while the Vietnamese Marines were lifted by US Marine helos (yeah, that caused the US grunts a little heartache) west of Route 1, where they begin their sweep to the southeast.  The boys walked all day, passing numerous villages and locals, but not seeing a single Viet Cong or hearing a single shot fired.  They stopped multiple times to search for weapons caches, boobytraps, even villages that seemed to have 'too much' rice, but nothing of interest was found.  As usual, about an hour before sunset the sweep halted and the Marines dug in to their night defensive positions and ate their evening chow.  The boys spent a long, uneventful night, including being out together for a couple hours on OP/LP.  The next morning the Marines got up, pissed and brushed their teeth, ate morning chow, stomped in their holes, and set off in search of the Viet Cong again.

This morning the squad is walking point, escorting a team of Combat Engineers that are sweeping the road for mines ahead of the tanks and tracks.  They've been on the road for five hours already, having started at 0630, but are behind schedule as the Engineers have had to stop and remove several mines already.


North is DOWN, the convoy is moving on the road from northeast (bottom left) to southwest (top right).  At bottom right is a tributary of the Truong Giang River, while at top right is a small village, and at top left is a small rise/ridgeline.  A couple small rice paddies dot the landscape, as well as patches of thick jungle.


Cpl Little motioned the Combat Engineers to start sweeping again and off they went.


But there it is, contact! From the north side of the river, a rocket pops and comes hissing in!


As an understrength VC squad in the south (bottom left) opens fire on the boys' squad (top center to top right).


Caught on the road, the Marines are having a rough go of it.


Nik (bottom right) gets the Pig thumping away at the VC (top left).


Cpl Little looks as Doc treats the wounded and Griffin gets on the radio to call for MEDEVAC.

To see the whole fight, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2021/01/two-brothers-fight-4.html

Next fight coming soon.

V/R,
Jack

Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Techno II

Excellent, as always, Jack !

Cheers - Phil :)

bigjackmac

Thank you, gentlemen, I appreciate it.

V/R,
Jack

bigjackmac

 All,

0130 Local Time
18 November 1965
Near Hoi An, RVN
Operation Blue Marlin II

Following the end of Operation Blue Marlin I, the boys re-boarded the amphibious shipping and sailed to Chu Lai, where 3/7 was offloaded.  They went ashore and to a couple days of rest, before it was time to re-board the ships for Operation Blue Marlin II, this time with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines.  They sailed south and landed 22 miles south of Da Nang on 16 November 1965, where they wheeled right and pushed north towards the confluence of the Song Truong Giang and Song Cua Dai (Song = River).  The Marines have spent two days humping the bush east of the Song Truong Giang without contact, while two battalions of ARVN Rangers have done the same west of the river.

The boys got a new squad leader, Sergeant Garcia, and the Platoon Sergeant, SSgt Dunn, briefed him on his squad's mission to babysit a bridge tonight.  "The bridge was previously guarded by an ARVN detachment, the squad wouldn't be receiving any attachments, arty would be on call, though no one is expecting any trouble tonight.  The Company Gunny was out there right now with a squad from 2nd Platoon.  You now stand detached; go forth and do good things!  And good luck, Sgt Garcia."

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-10hK1PhaQ/X8LeCFsVY8I/AAAAAAAA2Ho/-oJjCsbjQ1806vrgaOUIINasXe5b2uL6wCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/IMG_4074.JPG
Overview, north is up.  A tributary of the Truong Giang River runs north and south, with a few sampans moored at the northern end.  There are hamlets present in the northeast (top right) and southwest (bottom left), a finger of Hill 275 protrudes south in the northwest (top left), there's a rice paddy in the southeast, and thick patches of jungle dot the landscape.  The bridge is not fortified, but there are sandbagged emplacements surrounding it.


The Marines moved into the defensive positions; Sgt Garcia and Nelson took the small bunker at left, while 1st Fireteam went into the SE bunker (bottom right), 2nd Fireteam went into the West bunker (far left), and 3rd Fireteam went into the NE bunker (top right).  The Marines settled in for the night, with each bunker going to 33% and the command bunker going to 50% (only two of them in the bunker).


At exactly 0130 the cough of distant mortar tubes could be heard to the northeast, and approximately thirty seconds later five 82mm HE rounds rained down around the bridge's defensive positions.


Immediately following the mortar impacts, the VC 1st (off camera to left) and 3rd Squads (top right) launched rockets at the Marine defenders...


On the east side of the bridge, a rocket slammed into the SW Bunker, suppressing Cpl Little and Nikki.


And the Viet Cong come streaming out of the jungle to overwhelm the Marines defending the bridge!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2021/01/two-brothers-fight-5.html

Next fight coming soon.

V/R,
Jack



Techno II

Terrific report and piccies, once again, Jack !  :-bd

Cheers - Phil. :)


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Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

bigjackmac


bigjackmac

All,

1230 Local Time
10 December 1965
Que Son Valley, RVN
Operation Harvest Moon

While the boys were cavorting on Operations Red Snapper, Black Ferret, Blue Marlin I, and Blue Marlin II, the Viet Cong 1st Regiment had reconstituted itself, dodged various US/South Vietnamese sweeps, and concentrated in the Que Son Valley, which comprised the west end of the area of operations for Blue Marlin I.  During Blue Marlin I, the Marines swept east of Route 1 and the ARVN swept west, extending their area of control out to Hiep Duc, where they established a Ruff-Puff base.  The Marines pulled out on 12 November and pushed south, and that is when the 1st VC Regiment struck.  On 17 November the ARVN base at Hiep Duc fell; the ARVN counterattacked the next day and by 19 November 1965 they had retaken Hiep Duc, killing 141 Viet Cong while losing 33 of their own.

The two counterattacking ARVN battalions were pulled on 20 November to go deal with another emergency; the security situation in the Que Son Valley immediately deteriorated.  III MAF met with ARVN commanders and began planning a joint operation to neutralize Viet Cong forces in the Que Son Valley. US Marine forces would be 3/3 and 2/7, while the South Vietnamese would contribute the ARVN 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment, and the 11th Ranger Battalion.

Operation Harvest Moon kicked off on 9 December 1965, and it was a disaster right from the start.  The Viet Cong launched attacks on the ARVN 1/5 and 1/6; the latter was repulsed, but the former overran the ARVN infantry and killed their regimental commander.  The ARVN 11th Ranger Bn was also ambushed and lost over a third of its strength in less than an hour.  The US Marine 3/3 was lifted in and set off to assist them but ran into a battalion-strength strength defensive position that cost the lives of 11 Marines before the VC withdrew.  The boys had gotten their first helicopter ride, landing further west with 2/7, and walked all day without seeing anything or firing a shot.

Because things were going poorly, the US Marines committed 2/1, which attempted to land near Cam La, but the LZ was hot and the helos were shot up badly enough that only one rifle company (Fox Company) was landed and the remainder were put down in alternate LZs further west.  The rest of the day was spent trying to link up and cost 20 more Marines killed in action (I would loved to have gamed this but I cannot find any H-34s in 15mm-1/100 scale...  If someone can point me in the right direction I'd greatly appreciate it).


Overview, north is up.  The Marines are entering via the road at bottom center left, with the Song Ly Ly on their left flank and a couple hamlets on their right.  The hamlets are separated by some rice paddies, and there are several more in the north end of the area.  The squad is on the far left flank of the company, with the entire company on line (off camera to bottom right) extending to the southeast; one could argue the company should be in a bit more of a tactical stance, but they have a lot of ground to cover, a lot of areas to search, and so far they haven't run into any contact, despite what happened to the ARVN yesterday and what 2/1 was currently going through on their LZs at Cam La.


The Marines search a hamlet for signs of the Viet Cong.


The search complete, they move out to search the next one.


The Marines (top left) come under heavy fire at from VC at point-blank range (bottom right)!


As VC in the northwest (bottom left) launch a rocket at the Marines (top right, with the VC element that initiated the ambush at top left).


Marines are dropping like flies (casualty figures at center and bottom left)!  With the bulk of the squad falling back under heavy fire, only Corporal Zamora and Washington bottom left hold their ground and return fire!


The squad is disintegrating under intense enemy pressure, but one Marine refuses to leave his wounded brothers in the line of fire, dashing through heavy fire to retrieve Deleon, saving his life...


And helping the rest of the squad get its marbles back, at least enough to make an orderly withdrawal.

To see the actions that saw a squad member awarded the Navy Cross, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2021/01/two-brothers-fight-6.html

Next fight coming soon.

V/R,
Jack

Duke Speedy of Leighton

Another tough fight then Jack!  8)
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Techno II

Nice one, Jack !!

Cheers - Phil  :)