Rehearse all movements, in gas masks, with no communications, and at night. Assume that confusion will reign at the moment of execution, and rehearse all procedures accordingly. Share the plan so that every last leader can assume responsibility for its implementation.
Time the movement of the enemy and adjust indirect fire accordingly. Anticipate the arrival at target grids and call for the fire on the spot to which they are heading, not where they are.
Use deceptive techniques in defense. Use smoke to cover obstacle preparations. Shift companies after dark; assume they have been sighted and reported by enemy reconnaissance. Commit heavily to finding, killing, and blinding enemy reconnaissance. Move the TOC before the fight and provide for an alternate TOC during the fight. Dig in all command and control vehicles that join the maneuver companies for the fight. Put a ranking leader in charge of the bulldozers. Don’t allow any deviations from their work schedule.
Preposition ammunition and protect it from indirect fire. A single platoon may make the critical fight against the bulk of the enemy forces. With well-prepared positions and ample ammunition that platoon can turn the battle.
Be bold and aggressive. An enemy seeking only to get past you can avoid a fight. Don’t let him. Go to him and make him pay the price. Movement is important to the defense. Any uncommitted element must be prepared to fight as the reserve. In the absence of orders it must determine where the enemy is and go after him. Every resource must be brought to bear on the enemy; spare him nothing. Then and only then will you stop him, and that is what you must do.
With these lessons seared into each of their minds, the battalion operations group left the after-action review. Already an order was waiting for them. Always was eager to get it. He wanted another crack at the enemy.
CHAPTER 5
Deliberate Attack
The battalion would be attacking at dawn across the forward edge of the battle area, past Hill 876 and onto Hill 780. As usual, intelligence was sketchy, but Always had an advantage this time in that Lieutenant Wise and some of his scouts were deep into the enemy area. In fact, the outpost atop Hill 876 was ideally located to see the enemy dispositions. The commander had the S-2 signal Lieutenant Wise to get himself in position with all caution taken to prevent his being discovered by the enemy. Surely he would immediately expect a reconnaissance effort and commit forces to pick it up.
It was already past 1300 by the time the battalion leaders were free of the after-action review. Not much time was left to develop a plan, reconstitute the task force after the morning’s fight, get elements in position, and mount the reconnaissance effort it would take to probe the soft spots of the enemy.
Major Rogers had passed a warning order immediately to all companies, and even before the commanders made it back to their respective units the company executive officers were cross loading the vehicles and platoons so that they would be ready to fight on short notice. The commanders themselves were dog tired, but they would have to put that aside in order to get their people in motion. For the moment they could concentrate on reconstitution, as it would be a while before Always and his staff would decide what the plan of action would be. They would need every minute they had to pull off an attack at dawn.
The colonel went forward to Bravo Company’s position in Battle Position 2 hoping to gain a vantage point from which to look into the enemy’s sector. With him was his S-3, the artillery officer, and the S-2. Captain Baker joined them for a few minutes, offering his views on the problem before them.
“The ground is wide open, sir. Hill 876 and the ridge line marking the northern ring on the hidden valley across from my position are the dominant pieces of terrain forward in their sector. It seems like any approach along the south is sure to be caught in a murderous cross fire.”
“You’re probably right, Captain Baker,” Always answered him, “especially considering that peanut-shaped hill to the south of 876. Yet it is the shortest approach, particularly if we use your position here as our last cover before we launch.”
For a few minutes the party shared ideas. Lieutenant Colonel Always asked to see the operations overlay passed to him from Brigade. The northern boundary of his zone of attack seemed to close out any opportunity of using the ground up there to avoid 876. The zone was too narrow and pinched him in against the dangerous ground where he was sure he would find the enemy. Yet in its very unattractiveness he saw an opportunity. “Let’s work our way north along the FEBA. I want to take a closer look at those two little knobs that jut out of the desert floor just north of Hill 876. Major Rogers, call Brigade and see what kind of latitude we have on moving our left boundary.”
The small party worked their way cautiously along the FEBA (forward edge of battle area), having to cut back toward Hill 910 before they could move in on Echo Company’s position. The enemy was able to observe deep into Always’ sector, and the colonel saw no sense in drawing artillery fire. The last thing he needed to have happen now was to lose one of his key men or to strap the command group with a casualty or two.
Brigade was firm. There would be no alteration of the boundary. Using his binoculars and map, however, Always was able to see what he was looking for. He reflected for a moment or two, then bounced his ideas off the command party.
“It seems to me that the enemy has got to expect us to attack in the south. While he doesn’t know exactly where our boundaries are, he can probably figure them out with good approximation. If he does that, then he will deduce that without cover in the north I can’t mount an attack there.”
“Well, he probably has at least one company in defense, and probably two or more.” It was the S-2 speaking. “That gives him enough forces to hedge both bets.”
“You’re right on that, but it’s not his first line of defense that worries me as much as his reserves. If I can delude him long enough to bust through his line, then maybe I can get deep before he can react.”
Always had looked hard at the map and determined that getting to Hill 780 would unhinge any defense by the enemy, provided he could get there with adequate forces. “Where do you think he’ll put his reserve?”
Major Rogers fielded the question. “Can’t tell for sure, sir. Maybe our scouts can give us a better picture over time. It’s most likely, though, that he’ll put them in that valley in the south of our zone.”
“I think so too,” the S-2 chimed in excitedly. “Although it’s not a great place to put them, he does have to worry about us coming into that valley, and it offers him some cover from artillery fire and observation as well. So, like as not, that’s where he’ll put them. If he does that, then he’s got a problem coming out of it, since the only exit is looking into the face of Hill 780.”
“What can we do about that with artillery?” Always was looking at his fire support officer.
“Sir, if there ever was a place to put in an artillery-delivered mine field, that’s the place for it.”
“And how long would it take you to get it in?”
“If the guns were preset and laid, slightly more than five minutes, running up to ten.”
“And if they were in action, firing other fire missions?”
“Then a few minutes longer, sir.”
The conversation continued in this vein for twenty minutes, during which the essence of the plan was sketched out. That done, the party departed for the TOC, now reestablished in the vicinity of Charlie Company’s position of the morning. Already it was past 1530 and much coordination had yet to be done. The order would be given after dark.
Always had been learning, however, and he remained in place while he called his commanders up to him. They would get the order later at the TOC, but now while it was still light he wanted them to see the ground over which they would attack in the morning. As precious as their time was, this was as wise an investment of it as any. Shortly after 1700 the assembled commanders returned to their companies. The orders group would meet at 1930.
On the way back to the TOC Always ran
into Command Sergeant Major Hope, who was talking to two soldiers recovering mines from one of the obstacles emplaced the previous day.
“Good evening, sir.” Hope greeted the colonel for his small group.
“Evening Sergeant Major, evening men. How are you all making out?”
“Just fine, sir,” one of the men responded as he gingerly put aside an antitank mine he had just defused.
The sun had baked the men to a dark hue. Chapped skin hung from their lips and noses. Eyes looked as if road maps had been drawn on them, the red lines careening off in every direction. Always noted that their hands were raw and blackened by heavy labor in the arduous climate. Yet they looked cheerful enough, as if they were making picnic lunches instead of picking mines out of the ground. The sergeant major had that effect throughout the battalion, raising spirits even as the soldiers redoubled their efforts to get the job done. He came over to talk with his commander for a few minutes.
“How are you doing, sir? You look awful.”
“Thank you, Command Sergeant Major, you’re looking great yourself.” Always smiled.
“We almost had them this morning, you know, Colonel.”
“Yeah, I know. But that’s not good enough. Tomorrow is another day. I think we’re ready to really do it now.” The smile on Always’ face had turned to a set grimace. “How are the men looking to you?”
“They’re ready, sir. They want to kick butt, and they feel that you can make it happen. Show them the way, and they’ll knock walls down getting there.”
Again the sergeant major had given his commander the lift he needed in precisely the right way. He was gladdened by the expression of solidarity and support, challenged by the expectations of victory, and resolved to deliver to his command the success they deserved. All this in a few words, a few casual gestures. No wonder the men of the battalion responded to Hope the way they did. He could move mountains.
For an hour Always brainstormed the plan with his staff. Ideas were exchanged, critiqued, restated, critiqued again. All the while reports were coming in from the scouts, filling in the details on terrain, and just as importantly, on the enemy.
Lieutenant Wise had gone to ground atop Hill 876. The enemy had committed the better part of a dismounted company to look for him and his men, and 876 had been an obvious spot. For two hours Wise and two of his men had buried themselves with dirt, sand, and rocks, allowing the patrols to pass within a few meters of them without their being detected. It had taken amazing stamina; the heat of the day and the stifling weight of the earth on their entombed bodies had severely drained them of essential fluids. But they had hung on and were now gaining a clear picture of the enemy sector.
A motorized rifle company, reinforced with tanks and a dismounted element of more than fifty men, was digging in around the base of 876, the two hillocks to the north, and the peanut-shaped ridge to the south. Along the north face of the ridge dominated by Hill 955 another motorized rifle company and two platoons of dismounts were preparing a gauntlet defense, ready to rip apart anything that tried to run it. There had been movement in Hidden Valley, but as yet no scout was in position to get a good count of how many enemy were there. Based on the noise and the dust raised, it seemed like tanks were in there, at least a platoon and maybe a company. Hill 780 was uncovered save for a few support elements coming and going. Obstacles were in everywhere; across the width of the sector from north to south stretched concertina wire, barbed wire, and an elaborate mine field. Another more intensive mine field stretched from the peanut-shaped hill to the ridge line in the south. The entrance to Hidden Valley was a maze of tank traps, mines, wire, and trenches. Each enemy vehicle was dug in to turret level, and the approaches to them were wired and mined. The road south of 876 was cut with wire and mines and covered by cross fires from both sides of the road. So far as the scouts could see, there was not an inch of ground uncovered by fire once an attacker came within range.
It was a bleak picture, but at least it was a picture. As bad as it was, for the first time the task force knew what it was up against. The planners solidified their views, Always approved the plan, and the TOC produced the overlays that would be discussed and passed out at the orders briefing.
The plan was elegant in its simplicity, electric in its violence. The overwhelming mass of the task force would strike in the northernmost edge of the zone of attack, set up by a small deception in the south, and assisted by a preparatory dismounted attack. The commanders’ eyes brightened as they leaned forward in the eerie light of the TOC to be sure they understood what was expected of them.
Echo Company would move to Checkpoint 8 after midnight, run its vehicles’ engines, keep some movement going throughout the early morning hours, and then make a false start forward at 0355, going no farther than the north-south road to its front. It would be feinting at Hidden Valley, hopefully fixing the enemy there while the extreme violence was done in the north.
Bravo Company’s infantrymen would start out at 0130 to push at the northern slope of Hill 955, specifically aiming toward CP 4. It was to move by stealth, breaking into a direct attack at 0400. It would reinforce Echo’s deception, further confusing and fixing the enemy.
Alpha Company’s infantrymen would start out at 0100 from the vicinity of CP 5 and move by stealth just short of Objective OWL. Under cover of an artillery preparation that would start at 0330, they were to open a breach in the wire and mines in the extreme north of the zone of attack, just to the northeast of OWL.
Through this breach would come the rest of the task force. Alpha Company would drive in on OWL’s north face, gathering in its infantrymen and reducing the defenses there, fighting position by fighting position. Seconds behind Alpha would come Bravo, minus its dismounted infantrymen, hooking behind OWL and cutting sharply south into Objective FALCON. Its mission was to engage directly the defenses of FALCON, thereby protecting Charlie’s tanks as they followed right behind, hooking in from the north around OWL, past FALCON, and straight at HAWK. It was to grab a toehold on the north side of 876, covering any enemy movement that might interfere with Delta Company’s thrust on Objective EAGLE. The idea was to get deep quickly with a tank company on EAGLE, blocking any counterattack attempts from Hidden Valley or from the east. The forces on OWL, FALCON, and HAWK would take their time to work the enemy out of their holes, the lion’s share of this work to be done by the dismounts of Alpha coming down from OWL, and from Bravo, working up from the south.
The main attack would break at 0400, led by two armored personnel carriers with smoke generators on board. Visibility would be virtually nil for the attacking column, but with the task force covered all the way in by the poor light and spewing smoke, the few seconds needed to get by OWL might be bought by the confusion. Not that Always did not anticipate that his own people would be disoriented in the melee. That was to be expected. But with boldness and determination they could make it into position before the enemy could react, and then hunker down to fight a deliberate attack from positions less vulnerable than coming across the desert floor. Artillery-delivered mines would be dropped on CP 4 at the critical moment, bottling up whatever forces were in Hidden Valley, now estimated to be approximately ten tanks and a platoon of BMPs.
The bad news was that no air support would be available for the attack. It was needed elsewhere. Nor would there be any helicopters available. The rigors of the previous day’s efforts in the high winds had caused several maintenance problems, and those aircraft that were available were committed further to the north. This would be strictly a ground attack, supported by artillery and mortars. The latter would go in mounted behind Alpha, supporting the infantry efforts in the north.
It had taken only a short while to describe the relatively simple plan. But its implementation involved a myriad of details, particularly for the night movements that would have to be made to get everyone in attack position. To the greatest extent possible, all movement would be done with radio silence. Deception was key. If the enemy
realized the size of the punch coming in the north, he could reposition himself in time to meet it and throw it back. The scouts had been alerted to report any large night movements in and around OWL, FALCON, and HAWK. A scout team was pushed deeper onto EAGLE to make sure that no surprises awaited Delta when it got there.
The commanders were eager. This seemed like a workable plan, one based on good knowledge of the enemy positions. Come what may, it was certain to be exciting. The heart of the battle would be fought in the first ten minutes. After that it would take yeoman’s work to uproot the enemy, but the clash of armor at 0400 would be a scene to remember.
At 2100 the meeting broke up. Always shared a few words with Major Walters, whose neck wound was now bandaged, and headed for his Bradley. Shortly after midnight he would start his move toward CP 5, but for now he was going to get some rest.
As Always slept, the work of the battalion went on. Orders were developed and passed down the chain. Maintenance crews worked feverishly to complete repairs and get equipment back into the fight. Rations were distributed, water was brought up, ammunition was stored, fuel was replenished, mines and obstacles were recovered and stowed for future use. Here and there men snatched short naps. The leaders and the led had become one, caught up in the furor of continuous battle, straining to keep their gear in order, their bodies conditioned for the next fray regardless of the wear and tear they had already been through. One thousand wills bent to the tasks at hand, bone tiredness compensated for by the hard-won experience that comes with the tests of fire and steel that they had been through. Fear was subordinated to mission, exhaustion to commitment. The battalion had passed from being in the field to being part of the field. The comforts of civilization had passed from recent memory. Their bodies had hardened with their wills, and they could not be broken, come what may. They were now a machine that could fight indefinitely.
Defense of Hill 781 Page 12