Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [29]
A battalion of the 272d NVA Regiment had deployed in the wall of jungle that faced FSB Illingworth from three sides, and from these tall trees automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades sizzled across the base. From the southwest quadrant, two reinforced companies of NVA infantrymen swarmed out of the trees. They had to cross a clearing as flat and open as a pool table, but only a one-to four-foot berm faced them at the end. It had been pushed up by the 8th Engineers. The 2-8 TOC was in the center of the circle beside a conex shipping container, which had been lowered into another bulldozed square and layered with sandbags to serve as the battalion aid station. A thin ring of only seventy-five infantrymen manned the berm: C/2-8 Cav (Capt. Ken Hobson) and Recon Platoon, E/2-8 Cav (1st Lt. Gregory J. Peters).
Four ACAVs and one disabled Sheridan from A Troop, 11th ACR, were nestled between the bunkers on the berm. Additional heavy firepower came from the firebase's own artillery units: two 81mm mortars from Mortar Platoon, E/2-8 Cav; six 105mm howitzers from B/1-77 FA; three 155mm SP howitzers from A/1-30 FA; two 8-inch SP howitzers (one of which was unserviceable) from A/2-32 FA, IIFFV, and an air-transportable FDC fashioned out of a conex container and slingloaded in via helicopter; one quad-.50 guntruck from B/5-2 FA, II FFV; and one Xenon searchlight jeep from 1/29 FA, II FFV.
The eight-inch self-propelled howitzers under Maj. Thomas H. Magness, S-3 operations officer, 2d Battalion, 32d Field Artillery, were the latest arrivals to FSB Illingworth, having convoyed up with the Korean-vintage guns and searchlight vehicle from FSB Saint Barbara near Nui Ba Den Mountain, and arriving only the day before. Conrad had viewed the artillery as most unwelcome guests: The big guns confirmed that headquarters was rooting him to this dusty spot. Conrad had been given about an hour's notification before they rolled in, then Chinooks began setting down an incredible amount of ammunition at the log pad outside the base, and Mechanical Mules hauled in pallet after pallet of eight-inch rounds. During that day, as bulldozers and crews from the 8th Engineers became available, they were slingloaded out to Illingworth to construct ammunition bunkers; but the ammo had arrived faster than the few dozers could work. Although exhausted artillerymen had handled hundreds of howitzer rounds, their sweat hadn't been enough. By nightfall, most of the ammunition had been stacked in one large pit, but only some PSP had been thrown across as overhead protection. Some crates had ended up above ground level because there was no more room in the pit. Much effort had also been expended in pushing up a new berm to encompass the bulge caused by the heavy artillery and its ammunition. The curve of the bump was to the southwest, and the only path from the trees ran into it. Echo Recon manned five bunkers on either side of the dirt trail.
The brunt of the NVA ground attack was directed against this bulge, where the new berm was only a foot high in places. The RPGs shrieked just over the berm, pinning the men of Echo Recon against it until a GI named Lou jumped atop the berm with an M60. He'd just begun to fire when an AK47 round hit the M60, nicked him with metal slivers, and spun him off the berm. A GI named Lemon grabbed the machine gun and clambered up in turn. He couldn't see anything but dust glowing in the flarelight and the quick flashes of RPGs being fired from the distant tree line. He pumped tracers at the spots, and to his great surprise the RPG fire actually ceased.
Lemon was alive with adrenaline.
He could see NVA wearing only shorts running out of the dusty fog, and jumped back down where Lieutenant Peters and Lou had the crate of fragmentation grenades they had spent the afternoon unlocking in preparation for this encounter. They grabbed one right after the other,