113th V. 29th ID, 12NOV2011

Section is formed up facing South; using the connecting road between the South and North village as a relative "communications trench"; to fully defend the North village would've simply stretched ourselves too thin. 2nd Squad under Sgt. Dreek and Cpl. Anderson was tasked with holding this flank, acting as an early warning system for any enemy thrusts into this direction.

The task of holding the South village itself fell to Sgt. Pelt and 1st squad; the E5 barn was used as a blocking position, doubling as an Observation Post with eyes on the only crossing points into the village - a bridge, and a small ford to its left. The crossing points were on call for HQ to barrage with a 80mm mortar - at Pelt's discretion.

The enemy attack was a lengthy affair, and was drawn out as a result. The enemy relied largely on force of fire but failed to exploit with any movement while providing it, as a result, our pinned and dug-in squads did not suffer from assault while in no position to receive it. Rather, the enemy attempted to attack when the curtain of fire was becoming drawn out, and while they quickly stormed into E5, overwhelming the outer defenses with only negligible losses, their offensive ground to a halt when Sgt. Pelt and Pfc. Huff throw back 3 separate attacks upon the E5 barn. HE fire from the 80mm on the river bank hampered the enemy's attempt to provide fire support considerably.

Eventually, 1st suffered from the attrition of repeated attacks, and HQ's rifle element ran the gauntlet in an attempt to reinforce the E5 position. Unfortunately the enemy had already infiltrated several riflemen and the section leader and one other rifleman was killed en route. HQs survivors thus pulled back to 2nd Squad's position and prepared for the remaining enemies to attempt one last attack.

2nd Squad, the remaining force on the field, describes the final action:

"The southern flank was attritioned down to 1 mg at the barn in E5 until it too was silenced with predjeduce then the enemy setup for an advance north down to what was referred by that time as the E6 road. HQ fell at the single story building but the enemy met stiff resistence at the two story buildings and lost a number of infantry amounting to 8 confirmed enemy dead there.

Some confusion as to how many of the enemy were left to fight (between 1 or 2) when an enemy mg was seen strolling from the E6 road heading to the building at C5/C6 after inquiring for a quick explication as to how this lone man got past our gaze to enter so close he was terminated at the building door by the smg in the barn at C6.

Soon after Pvt Plunkett met the last American standing and corrected his posture to that of laying down in an eternal slumber confirming his 5th kill and resulting in victory."

The Section reports 11 men killed or wounded for 20 confirmed enemy dead.

The attack plan was to utilize brute force to quickly turn the enemy's flank, viz. securing the North Village, and rapidly sweep southwards (using the same connecting road just defended) to move in relative safety. Platoon HQ was to provide smoke and HE support in concert with the actual attack. 1st Squad, firing from the friendly side of the river, was to be the fix, 2nd, further to the north at a fordable part of the river, was to be the flank. The initial point of attack was C5.

The plan was carried out to its first stages, but due to a false start, poor comms and poorer firing from HQ, 2nd Squad was caught in the open and with little else to do in a safe manner, could do little more then form a skirmish line and trade fire with the enemy. Despite hefty losses the remnants of 2nd pushed through to their objective but were promptly wiped out by flanking fire from a Swampy area (thought to have been cleared by previous fire).

Due to the heavy losses, 1st Squad was fed in after a quick rearming and pushed into North Village at a heavy loss. The enemy at this time, suffering similar casualties, managed to bring back one of their MGs into action, and again caught with flanking fire, the remnants of the section were scattered and decimated. Survivors pushed forward as best they could, with one Pfc. Huff personally accounting for 5 of the enemy in his lone push down the C5 connecting road. However, the firepower offered by the enemy frontage was too great - scattered as they were, the section could not respond in an effective manner. The survivors of the initial crossing were killed one at a time, resulting in a failure to secure the ground.

The section was lost in its entirety, for 16 of the enemy killed or wounded.

AWARDS AND MEDALS:

ALL - Order of the Spur, Campaign Ribbon
Pfc. Plunkett - Bronze Star (Valor and skill in the defense)
Pfc. Huff - Bronze Star (Valor and Initiative in the failed offense)
Pfc. Rhino - Army Achievement Award (Calm organization under intense pressure)