The following morning, their company made their way along the edge of the river, until they came to the Luanshan Communication Road, which spanned 300 meters in length across the river leading to Luye Township, south of Luye City. The bridge was situated at the mouth of the Huatung Valley, a critical piece of real estate they needed to capture.
Knowing there was a fortified enemy position nearby, Major Fowler had requested some armor support before they tried to cross the location on foot. Before long, a company from the 73rd Cavalry Regiment arrived with a dozen of their JLTV vehicles. A feeling of excitement permeated the group when they heard the sound of those joint land tactical vehicles approaching.
Several of the JLTVs had the long-range acquisition systems or LRASs on them, which allowed them to search for targets up to ten kilometers away and lase them for artillery or airstrikes. Using the LRASs, the vehicles quickly searched the high ground behind the township for potential enemy positions.
One of the privates operating an LRAS signaled for Sergeant Price to walk over. When Price arrived, the private told him, “Sergeant, check this out. There are several areas with a heavy concentration of radio antennas.”
Price shared the news with his CO. “We must’ve found them,” confirmed Major Fowler.
They set about making plans and preparations for how to proceed, and Fowler called in for additional support. Around midday, two squadrons from the Australian 14th Light Horse Regiment arrived with a squadron of Aslan armored vehicles, which were armed with 25mm chain guns. Sergeant Price smiled when he saw the squadron of M1A1 Abrams battle tanks they’d brought with them.
After everyone had been brought up to speed, Major Fowler sent a squad of Rangers to clear the bridge, making sure there were no explosives rigged to the structure. Everyone collectively held their breath while the search took place, but eventually, the Rangers returned unscathed and gave the all clear.
The Ranger Commander spoke with the Aussies. “Can we get you to send two of your Aslans across the bridge? You all have heavier armored vehicles than us, and they could take the hits better than the ones we have here.”
The Australian major in charge obliged, and soon two Aslans were rolling across the structure. Their journey was uneventful. Once they’d crossed over, they moved to either side of the road, roughly 100 meters ahead of the bridge exit to provide cover for the tanks. One by one, the Abrams tanks were sent over and took up positions on the opposite side of the river.
Something about this just didn’t feel right to Sergeant Price. “Why haven’t they taken a shot at us yet?” he wondered. “They have to see us.”
The armored vehicles continued to cross the bridge one by one, and still no one had had any contact with the enemy. The rest of the Aslan vehicles and the 73rd Cavalry Regiment joined them. Not to be outdone by the armor and reconnaissance units, the rest of the Rangers also crossed the bridge.
Despite the continued calm, the hairs on the back of Sergeant Price’s neck stood up. Then all hell broke loose.
Zip, zap, whoosh, BOOM, BAM!
Heavy machine-gun fire raked the infantry positions, and a fusillade of RPGs and antitank missiles sprang forward from Luye Junior High School directly in front of them and a Buddhist temple to their right. The tanks’ antimissile defensive systems prevented the first barrage of missiles from hitting most of them. However, two of the Aslans exploded in spectacular fashion, throwing fire and shrapnel in every direction. The twelve tanks in the squadron fired several rounds into the buildings where the enemy fire was emanating from, silencing the attack as quickly as it had begun.
While the area was temporarily covered in smoke from the explosions and cannon fire, the Australian and American troops did their best to use that as cover to push further into the small township toward the enemy positions. As they rushed forward, Sergeant Price heard the dull thumping sound of mortars being launched. Then a higher pitched scream really caught his attention.
“Crap, those are katyusha rockets,” he realized.
Boom, boom, boom, crump, crump.
The 82mm mortar rounds and 122mm rockets peppered the bridge area and the edge of the township. The Australian infantrymen and Rangers did their best to get into the town and seek shelter. Rockets and mortars began exploding all around them. High-velocity shrapnel whizzed past them, hitting nearby trees, buildings, and anything else in its path. Sergeant Price felt his heart pounding out of his chest as he raced to get out of the impact zone.
As Price looked up toward the elementary school to his right, he spotted movement in the tree line. “Contact front!” he shouted. “Two hundred meters to my three o’clock!”
“I see it! Enemy machine gun!” yelled one of the other soldiers, who leveled his M240G at the new threat and lit up the position. Seconds after firing into the tree line, a barrage of bullets flew right back at them from several enemy gun positions they hadn’t spotted yet.
Pop, pop, pop, zing, zing, crack.
Several tree branches from the trees above Sergeant Price’s position disintegrated, dropping leaves and chunks of wood on him. “Suppressive fire!” he yelled to his squad. They changed positions rapidly, instinctively following their training. A couple of guys threw some grenades at the enemy, and the others used their M4s and opened fire on the enemy positions.
One of Price’s soldiers leveled his grenade gun at the tree line, where the heaviest concentration of enemy fire was coming from, firing the 40mm grenade and quickly ducking before a slew of bullets flew over his head.
Sergeant Price turned to look behind him and saw a cluster of Australian soldiers pointing in their direction. Then an Aslan started heading their way. A couple of the friendly soldiers motioned for them to take cover.
“Everyone down!” Price shouted, straining to be heard over the roar of gunfire.
Seconds later, the 25mm cannon on the Aslan tore into the tree line in front of them. When the vehicle had stopped shooting, Price stuck his head up and saw the area had been ripped apart. The Aslan had shredded the enemy positions; most of the trees had been cut down to stubs.
Sergeant Price recognized that there was an opportunity to seize while the enemy might still be disoriented. “Charge!” he screamed to his squad.
The Rangers jumped up and ran forward with their weapons at the ready. The Australian soldiers and the lone Aslan advanced quickly behind them, ready to provide support should they need it. When they reached the enemy positions, they found the dead and dying littered about in a chaotic mash. Most of the Chinese soldiers had been ripped apart by the high-velocity cannon shells. Some were missing limbs, desperately calling out for help. Price’s lone medic began to help the enemy wounded where he could; then a couple of Australian medics came forward and also rendered aid.
“Staff Sergeant Price!” shouted his platoon leader.
“Yes, Sir?” Price asked as he turned to face Lieutenant Martinez.
“We’re going to hold up here for the moment,” ordered Martinez. “One of the reconnaissance units found the enemy fort that the police officer and farmers told us about. It’s roughly two kilometers in front of us. One of the tanks was just hit by an antitank gun built into it.” The LT waved in the direction of the stronghold.
“Please tell me someone is calling in an air strike on that location, LT,” said Sergeant Price.
Martinez smiled and nodded. “Yeah. It’s inbound now. Going to drop a 2,000-pound JDAM on them. The CO wants us to move over near the tanks and be ready to support them when they move on the enemy fort. It looks like you guys have this area cleared — why don’t you leave it to the Aussies here to clean up? We need to get moving.”