Captain Long smiled at the calmness in the pilot’s voice. They sounded like they had done this a million times before. “Phoenix Two, we have three PLA Type 95 antiaircraft guns taking our helicopter support out. I need them cleared so the next wave of troops can land. How copy?” he asked.
Once the pilot acknowledged, Long relayed the number and type of enemy vehicles needing to be destroyed, along with their exact locations.
“Pit Bull Six, those are some serious threats. We copy. We’ll be hitting them with 500 pounders, so make sure your troops are well enough away,” the pilot explained. “Stand by for an attack run, three mikes out.”
Captain Long briefly switched over to the company network to let everyone know the fast movers were three minutes out and would be dropping 500-pound munitions on the enemy guns. Looking around, Long saw that most of the Marines who had been in the drainage ditch with him had moved forward and were now taking up positions near the hangars they had just captured from the enemy. It was just him, his radioman and one of the other sergeants that had helped him plot the enemy positions.
“Let’s relocate to a safer position once the fast movers take out the gun positions,” he said. Just then, they heard the first thunderous explosion near the other end of the field. Seconds later, two more blasts sent reverberations through the air. The platoons nearby reported direct hits. They started moving forward to secure the positions and finish off any enemy soldiers in the area.
“Pit Bull Six, this is Phoenix flight. Did we get them?” asked the pilot.
“Phoenix Two, that’s a good copy. A solid hit on all three enemy positions. How many more bombs do you have left? Can you hit a few additional strong points for us?” he asked, hoping they could help his unit take out a few more enemy positions.
“Pit Bull Six, we have five bombs remaining between us, and ten mikes of fuel. If you have more targets, send them, and we’ll take `em out for you,” replied the Hornet pilot.
Long turned to his gunnery sergeant, “What other positions could we use the ordnance on?”
A couple minutes went by as they conferred with the other platoon leaders, and eventually five enemy locations were settled on. Another five minutes went by, and five more loud explosions rocked Fort Mag as Echo Company continued to push out beyond the airfield to secure the rest of the base.
As the fighters flew back to the carrier to rearm, Captain Long and a few of his other soldiers moved toward the flight operation building for the airstrip and set it up as their command post until the rest of the battalion arrived. While he was getting his various platoon positions marked on his map of the area, they heard the sounds of more helicopters nearing them. Looking out the window, he saw the next wave of Ospreys land and disgorge their human cargo.
As the troops of Delta Company fanned out, Captain Long could see them react to the sight of the wreckage of two Ospreys still burning on the runway, along with nearly a dozen Marines lying dead nearby. The black pillars of smoke and fire continued rising from the enemy vehicles just slightly back from the perimeter in the jungle, also adding to the carnage.
A small cluster of Marines made their way toward the flight operation building. A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Jackman walked in with a few of his other officers and staff members. He surveyed the room briefly and then walked toward Captain Long with a smile on his face.
“Bang-up job your men did in securing this airstrip, Captain. You should be proud of them. I’ve made sure Colonel Tilman knows how well you guys did in securing this objective,” Jackman said, extending his hand for a congratulatory handshake.
Then Colonel Jackman looked past Captain Long toward the map he had set up. “Where’s the enemy located now, and how soon until we can have the rest of the base secured?” he asked.
Long took a second to survey the map and then pointed to several positions. “I have platoons moving to these sections here, here, and here, which will allow us to make sure the airstrip is secured. Second Platoon is reporting heavy enemy fire near the base housing section just east of the airfield,” he explained.
“Along with this section over here near the training buildings, we’ve taken a lot of machine-gun fire and even run into a few armored vehicles,” Captain Long continued. “Fortunately, we had two pairs of Super Cobras that were able to help us take them out once those fast movers destroyed the enemy antiaircraft vehicles. I think there were two enemy light tanks and a handful of armored personnel carriers. Since they’ve been destroyed, we haven’t come into contact with any additional armored vehicles.”
Pausing for a second, Captain Long asked the next question. “Where do you want my company to focus on next?”
Nodding in approval, the colonel replied, “I’ll have Delta Company focus on this section of the base. I want you to have your third platoon disengage once Delta shows up and reinforce your guys over here at the base housing section. Focus on clearing that out and setting up a new perimeter covering this entire side of the base. The rest of the battalion will continue to arrive over the next couple of hours to help us expand the perimeter.”
Colonel Jackman then pointed on the map to where the two Ospreys were still burning. “We need to get these downed helicopters off the airstrip. The Air Force is going to send in a couple of C-130s, who are going to offload a mobile POL station, along with some munitions for the Cobras and the artillery guns that will start to arrive toward the end of the day. By tomorrow morning, we’ll have a dozen Super Cobras operating out of the base, along with a battery of 105mm artillery guns. This base is going to get real busy quick, Captain.”
Before Captain Long had a chance to leave, his boss pulled him aside for a second to talk privately. “Before I left the landing ships, I heard our sister battalion was taking a beating as they moved up the highway. I suspect they’re taking a lot of casualties. Colonel Tilman wants to move the Corps area combat support hospital to our location instead of the beach area. He wants the CSH to be closer to the fighting. My concern, Captain, is that the Chinese soldiers they’re fighting in that section are from the famed 43rd Paratrooper Division. If they fall back, they may try and fall back to Fort Mag, which frankly is not very far from them right now. There also may be other elements of that division nearby, which may cause us some problems,” Jackman told Long.
Captain Long nodded. “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll make sure to let my platoon leaders know about the presence of this unit as well. I’m not too versed in the Chinese unit patches, but it doesn’t appear that any of the units we fought here were part of that unit. They did put up a heck of a fight. If those paratroopers fight even more skillfully, then we’ll have our hands full for sure.”
They talked for a few minutes more before the colonel sent him on his way and began to get his battalion headquarters set up and ready to receive the influx of troops that were heading his direction.
Captain Ma lifted the pocket binoculars to his eyes and scanned the road below them. The column of American armored vehicles had been snaking along for kilometers on the Dingalan-Gabaldon Road, heading west away from the beach. Their scouts had spotted the Americans roughly twenty minutes earlier as they continued to head toward the small village of San Vicente and the lone vehicle bridge that crossed the Pampanga River allowing vehicles to continue west further inland.
When it became clear the Americans were going to land forces on Luzon, there were only a handful of suitable beaches. One of them happened to be roughly thirty-five kilometers from his current position. Captain Ma and his commanders knew exactly what type of American vehicles would be leading the way and knew the type of weapons they would need to defeat them. They had spent a couple of weeks preparing a series of defensive positions and traps that would hopefully cause significant damage to the Americans.