[Hermit]

The Colonel opted to spread out around the road and make a serious effort to annhilate the enemy troops rather than smoke or suppressing them and passing through. The heavy MG's to the south kept the heads of our infantry down, so the armor would have had to advance without escort. That option was judged unacceptable. The armor has both climbed and descended the small ridge to either side of the road. In the meantime, the loaded helos were diverted to the south, and under cover of smoke, deployed two platoons in the fields of long grass to the south. One platoon was put to the western edge, to approach the woods and small hillock believed to be screening the enemy heavy MGs. The other was dropped in a wooded clearing to find the source of some 7.92 medium MG's that began firing as well. This platoon began receiving lots of small arms fire as soon as it emerged from the woodline, losing 2 men in the hail of gunfire. Bullets were flying everywhere, and all they could do was drop to the ground and hope that help would arrive soon. You'd be amazed how flat you can make yourself when it really matters! Fortunately, some of the armor that had repositioned higher up the ridgeline could see the spots the firing was coming from, and laid down some suppression fire with their machine guns and a few cannon rounds. The Dusters made some good use of their rapid-fire 40mm guns, since they weren't expecting any air threats. In fact, after the Dusters sprayed the area, the enemy firing almost completely ceased, and we were able to get up some screening smoke.

The platoon to the west fared better, taking only a few bursts from the heavy MG's which went over our heads, and small arms fire from one enemy squad that must have seen our movement in the tall grass. The MG's were spotted after they spewed a few more bursts at the remaining troops on the hill with the tanks, and the helos and two Pershings shooting from long range were able to silence them after a few minutes.

In the north, it was a continued slug-fest as our men on the SE ridge and theirs on the SW traded shots. Some casualties were caused on both sides, but niether side lost any units. One of our squads will have to be retired due to men lost, but our armor has finally negotiated the rim of the mountain and is inside the "bowl" formed by the surrouding ridge lines. Two AA MG's on the NW peak were spotted when they shot continuously at our orbitting helos. Our 8-inch SPA made short work of them after a few minutes of dropping their huge shells all over that peak. The Colonel took advantage of the shelling (and its suppression effects) to go ahead and drop a platoon on the inside rim of that ridge to provide recon info. There was a suprising volley of small arms fire at the off-loading troops that came from the wooded valley in the center of the bowl. Apparently the 10 minutes of 105mm barrage hadn't done as great a job of suppressing that area as expected. As the men scrambled for cover, an enemy squad hidden in rough terrain on the eastern edge of that ridge fired on them from above as well. Since our men had taken cover based upon the fire coming up from the bowl, they were exposed to fire from above and took several casualties before suppression fire from our ammo supply 1/2-tracks, shooting from all the way across the bowl, managed to force the enemy squad back into cover. Subsequent fire from the tanks' main guns, especially the CS Pershings, eventually drove the enemy from his shelter, and the much relieved infantry squads dispatched the survivors as they ran for the safety of the reverse slope of the ridge. Unfortunately, one of our squads on the ridgeline will also have to be retired from combat now. The bowl received several more liberal applications of 105mm, and that seemed to have quieted that area as well.