We returned to digging the defences before darkness became complete, keenly aware that we were close to the point at which the American company had been attacked and feeling rather uneasy, wondering what Viet Cong force be gathering to pounce on our position whose location had been betrayed by the Dust Off helicopter.
At 10 p. Noack had died in the helicopter on the way to Vung Tau. The worst had happened and its acceptance was very difficult. On the following morning we pressed on through country which was a mixture of low scrub, overgrown banana plantation and tangled secondary jungle. There were several open areas in our path which had to be negotiated carefully lest an ambush lay lurking on the edges waiting to catch us in the centre.
The country was carefully searched as we went, so progress was slow. Near midday we came to some low forest, through which two well used ox cart tracks ran, one of which had been used by a rubber tyred vehicle in the past few days.
These tracks were obviously part of the Viet Cong road network which ran from the coast to the inland bases. We had laid an ambush on one track but then received orders to move half a mile to the south-east to clear some huts.
Soon after starting off, Five Platoon saw two Viet Cong in black pyjamas and carrying rifles running through the bushes a few hundred yards away. As we were moving down a long gentle hill we heard a rushing scuffle coming through the bush and were startled by three wild pigs who dashed through our formation.
Shortly afterwards, the forward elements of Five Platoon, who were leading, crossed over a small ridge in front of us. Suddenly they went to ground, firing vigorously at a hut some fifty yards ahead in which there were four Viet Cong with rifles. The enemy fled into thick scrub at the back of the hut, deserting their tools and equipment.
We burned the hut so that it could no longer shelter Viet Cong. As we moved carefully through the dense bush in the wake of the fleeing Viet Cong two more huts were discovered.
This area was a small Viet Cong base. Each hut contained a bed and beneath each bed was a bunker. On the roof of one hut were two hand grenades without their strikers.
They were triggered to explode at the least disturbance. We set fire to the huts and moved well away from the sharp explosions which sent showers of metallic fragments through the air near the huts. We camped for the night in a large banana plantation.
It was quite and peaceful under the weird sail-like shapes of the huge banana leaves, silhouetted against the soft moonlight of the tropical sky. Early the following morning three helicopters arrived bringing food.
After their departure, a fourth helicopter, bearing Colonel Warr appeared. It landed and suddenly a burst of firing broke out from the southern edge of the landing area. The Viet Cong had been lurking close by awaiting an opportunity to strike us a sharp blow.
A clearing patrol forced the Viet Cong away. The helicopter had three holes in it—one in an oil line. The pilot said he would chance getting off the ground again if Colonel Warr agreed. Colonel Warr had finished conferring with Bruce about the coming phase of the operation. He climbed into the helicopter with a light remark about the pleasures of the unknown.
The machine took off successfully, climbed to fifteen hundred feet and disappeared over the western horizon to battalion headquarters. Bruce then moved the company to a hilltop in the banana plantation some five hundred yards away. Bursts of machine gun fire rattled out from our northern flank. Bullets also came into our position from the south-east, so we temporarily had the impression that the Viet Cong were all around us and the next few minutes were rather exciting.
Four Platoon set off in pursuit of the two who had walked into them. They found a lot of blood and brought back one sandal, blood covered, made from an old rubber tyre. The amount of blood on the trail indicated that one had been killed. The other must have hidden the body before making off. During the afternoon several of our patrols went out, locating some Viet Cong huts and a bunker which they destroyed. One patrol saw a group of Viet Cong crossing a piece of open ground which was over a thousand yards away from them.
Lieutenant Pott, commander of Six Platoon, ordered one of his machine guns to open fire, more to give the Viet Cong a fright then to hit them, for at that distance accuracy is almost impossible. However, a patrol from A. Company found a body riddled by our machine gun bullets near that open ground on the following day. During the night we set an ambush on the track which the two Viet Cong had used in the morning. The night passed uneventfully if a little tensely, for once again we had given away our position in the afternoon by taking a helicopter resupply.
On the morning of May 27th we moved off to clear another area which lay fifteen hundred yards away to the north-east. The country which we passed through was extremely beautiful. The jungles were a little thorny and tangled in places, but much of the country was lush and green, rather like an overgrown English park. Great festoons of greenery hung down from the high trees on long vines and lianas like absurdly overdone Baroque ornament.
Short green grass carpeted the ground. They had black bodies, very slender, and their legs were banded with black and white. Patrolling through that sort of country had its own peculiar atmosphere of tension. The hot sun beat down and was reflected from the ground in a slow moving stream of heated air which enveloped the body. All around the air was filled with the clicking and whirring of insects and jungle birds.
Heat dripped from everything around and poured in torrents from our brows. The scenery shimmered. Even the metallic sounds of the birds seemed to glint and shimmer with the heat. We moved in two groups.
Five Platoon was separated from the remainder of the company and investigated the area to the south of our line of march. The northerly route was quite, but Five Platoon had a more successful morning.
They encountered a Viet Cong defensive position, which was occupied by five men. On following this blood trail, voices were heard. One wounded Viet Cong attracted attention to himself and surrendered. Our chaps bandaged his wounded leg and splintered it in case it had been broken. He accepted a cigarette and a drink of water. Two taken in of t Many have captions. Some have captions.
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