Rules: Charlie Company Figures: 20mm Qualiticast, SHQ and Platoon 20 Era: May 1967, Vietnam Just after dawn, the radio tuned to the company net crackled. The RTO snapped out of his uncomfortable half sleep and nudged the el-tee. "Dogbone two-six, this is six. SITREP, over." The RTO keyed his mike twice, breaking squelch to let the company commander that the situation remained the same--quiet. If The. RTO had his way, it would remain the same. Sitting out on a night ambush in torrential rain was never fun, At least dawn had brought the promise of drier air. The radio crackled again. "Two-six, this is six. Some ARVN battalion commander has lost contact with a platoon of his troops and requested assistance, Break contact and move to..." The company commander passed on the coordinates where the ARVNs were supposed to be. Great, thought the RTO, now we have to hike to Timbucktu to save some ARVN butts. 'Link up with the ARVNs and escort them back to their base camp, over." The el-tee (Sacha Leon) signed off, yawned, and called his platoon sergeant over. Clutching his map, the el-tee quickly traced a line on it, stabbing his finger on the old French outpost on the hill overlooking Chi Dao. He rapped out a series of orders to his platoon sergeant. "Sarge, we'll move out in ten, okay? First, Second, Headquarters, and Third. Put an M-60 each with First and Second." Ten minutes later, the weary platoon was on its feet and stumbling through the wet underbrush, headed for Chi Dao only a handful of kilometers away. The ARVN lieutenant (Chris Moody) surveyed his men, congratulating himself again on the decision to move into dry quarters in the hamlet last night rather than remaining in the old French outpost suffering in the weather. From the hamlet, he could still fulfill his mission of observing the river crossings. After breakfast, he would move his men back up onto the nearby hill on the other side of the river and reoccupy the old outpost. It was probably safer anyway than remaining in the village. He found it troubling that he was out of radio contact with his higher headquarters, but that was no reason to return early from the planned three day mission. If only Di could get that piece of junk working, the lieutenant shrugged with just a touch of worry in his thought. Thirty minutes later, he marshalled his men and started out of the village to begin another day of pointless sitting and watching. WHAM! One of the ARVNs had stepped on a mine, dying along with two others in the 25-man detatchment. Simultaneously, multiple automatic weapons opened up from the tall grass on the ARVN right flank. The concealed VC (Alan McGahey) raked their ARVN opponents, killing and wounding several. The victims of the ambush hugged the ground or the the berms of nearby rice paddies and returned fire. A brief mortar barrage added to the firefight killing another ARVN. Just as the fire began to die down on the right, another VC force opened up on the trapped men from another direction. Most of the ARVNs in the killing zone of the classic L-shaped ambush were dead or seriously wounded within minutes. A kilometer away on the other side of the river, the muffled sound of the firefight reached the ears of the lead squad of Americans. The sergeant commanding the lead squad (Brian Moody) called in a sitrep, reporting gunfire and explosions west of his position. Before he could complete his report, an LMG opened up from a concealed bunker, driving every man in the squad to earth. After locating the source of the fire, the squad leader called for mortar fires to knock out the bunker while his own men returned fire. Moments later, accurate mortar fire knocked out the bunker. Miraculously, none of the GIs had received injuries. Moving more cautiously, the entire platoon turned west towards the sound of the guns. The situation for the ARVN detachment had now become critical. Shifting his men, the Vietnamese lieutenant brought his other squad to bear on the VC flank while he tried to salvage the remains of the squad caught in the kill zone. The added firepower of the the second squad momentarily drove back some of the black clad figures killing the lieutenant's men. Accurate, close-range fire stopped a VC charge that threatened to overrun the survivors of the ARVN unit, dropping eight black-clad guerrillas as they surged out of the grass. Part II The Americans could hear the distinctive bark of multiple AK-47s beginning to overwhelm the return fire. The platoon leader ordered his men to speed up. After all, he thought to himself, Charlie'll never hear us approach. 'But a sniper began firing at the lead squad. A grenade exploded somewhere nearby. Before the lieutenant could react, the Viet Cong triggered another ambush--this time focusing on the platoon headquarters and threatening to decapitate it before the Americans could come to the relief of the beleaguered ARVN detatchment. Second Squad quickly reoriented on the ambushers' flank, killing half of the attackers and driving the remained off. It was done! Everyone in the platoon headquarters was down except the for the lieutenant, most of them dead or seriously wounded. The lieutenant had to commandeer Second Squad's RTO to call for evacuation of the dead and wounded. Third Squad discovered six VC bodies in the brush, and battalion demanded that the bodies be flown out as well. First Squad picked up a single ARVN who claimed to have knocked out a bunker just ahead of the advancing Americans. Through his broken English, the platoon learned that the ARVN detatchment had been ambushed on the other side of the river and was in sore straits. As soon as the dead and wounded were flown out, the platoon pushed on, occupying the old French outpost overlooking the river crossing just as the firing across the river rose to a crescendo, then died, At the foot of the hill below the outpost, the Americans discovered four more junior enlisted ARVN fleeing the massacre, three of them wounded. The attacking VC had disappeared. Losses: US: 6 killed, 5 wounded ARVN: 17 killed, 3 missing (presumed killed), 3 wounded. VC: 6 bodies recovered (Actual losses: 30 killed) US Orders: 2d Platoon received the following frag order via radio. An ARVN platoon is cutoff in the old French outpost at Chi Dao. The ARVN commander has asked for our assistance to contact and withdraw the platoon. As soon as practical on 1 May 67, move on foot to Chi Dao, link up with the ARVN, and cover their withdrawal overland to their base camp. The company mortar platoon will provide dedicated fire support, but has limited ammunition. ARVN Situation: Last night the rains were so bad that you decided to move your wet and bedraggled troops into one of the nearby hamlets of Chi Dao to dry out. You abandoned the old French outpost near the river and moved into drier quarters. When the rain lifts this morning, you plan to resume your mission. Unfortunately, you are currently out of contact with higher headquarters. You're "stupid" RTO claims that "there's something wrong with the radio," but he does not know what it is. ARVN Orders: Observe the river crossings on the lower Bo Lai near Chi Dac, and prevent their use by anti-government forces. VC Orders: Inflict as many ARVN casualties as possible; prevent the Americans from linking up with the ARVN. You had the opportunity to scout the ARVN position during the night and prepare (i.e. plant mines and boobytraps). Comments: Alan set up and pulled a classic L-shaped Ambush on Chris's ARVN as they left the hamlet. No matter which way they turned, the VC had the ARVN detachment flanked. Too many of the ARVN leaders became early casualties. The Americans (Sacha and Brian) sent to link up were too slow to give the ARVN any aid. End result, only five ARVNs survived. When the Americans did speed up, they neglected basic security, allowing a VC squad to flank them. Back to Dispatch December 2002 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com