Ahead, the artillery landing on the first positions lifted, shifting to the rear and the men from the ‘Shires waited for the sound of small arms, and tank guns, but there was nothing. They did not stop, they carried on advancing until they reached the positions and found them abandoned.
Where the hell was the Chinese 3rd Army?
Pat Reed and Major General Norris Monroe, commanding the ANZACs, were parroting the words of many, “Where had the enemy gone?” The outer defence line had been abandoned.
“I am guessing that if the Chinks still have a nuke we will find out about it the hard way.” Norris said.
“Is there another explanation?” an aide queried. The shortage of fuel and food caused by the blockade could be a factor, but it wasn’t like the Chinese to dodge a fight. They were the enemy, but they had guts.
The Highland Brigade to the west and the US troops to the north were not advancing, they were to ensure the Chinese went into the sea or into the nuclear wasteland of their own making, but their O.Ps and patrols reported the same thing, the Chinese had apparently withdrawn back into Woolongong or Port Kembla, but no one was certain of that.
Only at the airfield at Illawarra did everything seem to be business-as-usual. A raid had failed and the enemy had scrambled, going for the heavily burdened fighter bombers, but F-15s and 16s blocked the way and an air battle was being fought.
The advance continued unopposed.
1 Company, 2CG, had driven onto their first objective and debussed, looking for a fight and finding none.
As per the battalions plan, 3 Company passed through 1 Company and continued the advance to the next known positions with 1 Company remaining on foot, shaking out into arrowhead with the Warriors and 432s following.
For whatever reason, and probably overconfidence was probably in there somewhere, 3 Company drew further ahead than the tactical bound which had been decreed.
The Life Guards were ordered ahead and they reported abandoned positions right up until the airfield where they found the enemy were alert, and far from pulling out. The sound of small arms, Rarden cannons and mortars carried back to the advancing infantry. The Scimitars pulled back, breaking contact and finding an over watch position.
2CG was the right flank of the Guards Divisions advance; to their right, was the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, the ANZACs left flank. To the ANZACs right was the ocean, and to the front, in the path of this critical boundary, was a wooded feature called with some grandeur, Pudding Mountain. Pudding was a hill, a medium sized and tree covered hill. In front of its base were the next known defensive positions, with another a little way up, and both appeared as abandoned as the first.
3 Company’s OC ordered 9 Platoon to dismount and go up the Pudding through the woods on foot, while the remainder slowly motored along the hills western side.
Oz had heard the Jocks bagpipes played when they took a hill near Shellhaven, so when he heard a bugle he assumed that it was 9 Platoon doing likewise, playing copycat, but more bugles sounded, tuneless, just a lot of noise to induce confusion and panic.
“Three this Three Two…Contact! Contact!…!”
Oz worked it out.
“One Company, standstills…FIX BAYONETS, and take cover!” CSM Osgood’s voice carried over to the New Zealanders who looked amused rather than alarmed.
Major Llewellyn, the 1 Company OC, had also worked it out and he was calling the CO and informing him that they were under heavy infantry attack and asking for the rest of the battalion to come up on the hurry-up. Lt Col Innes-Wyse looked through his binoculars and could see nothing of the sort though. The remainder of 2CG continued at a walking pace.
As clearly and calmly as if he was running a range day back at the School of Infantry, Brecon, Oz shouted commands to the 1 Company men.
“Three hundred… targets to your front…Watch and shoot!..Watch and shoot!”
The platoon commanders sent men to collect Claymores from the vehicles stores but they had time to place only three of the directional mines and return, unfurling the firing cables as they went.
There was some ragged small arms from up in the woods, audibly recognised as the SA80, and a whole lot of AK fire followed by grenades.
No further transmissions were received from 9 Platoon and the bugles got closer.
Captain Regitt, the 1 Company 2 i/c, sent a fire mission request for the wood line at the base of the hill, but it was dismissed out of hand owing to the last known location of 9 Platoon and the proximity of the remainder of 3 Company, albeit they were outside the danger area.
Accurate salvoes of RPG-26 from the west side of the hill now began impacting the Warriors of 3 Company from the flank.
The CO now realised that there was something extraordinary happening and ordered 4 Company and 5 Company, the last being the battalions wartime establishment of a fourth rifle company, to move forward to where they could engage whatever was being hidden by the trees as it came down the hill.
The Rarden cannons of 1 Company’s Warriors, their GPMGs and those of the rifles sections opened fire first, and finally the riflemen.
Four thousand men of the People’s Liberation 3rd Army’s 2nd Infantry Brigade had lain packed together on the Pudding all night, silently waiting for the Allies. The tactic they used was one that had been tried and tested, it had almost bought victory in Korea when unleashed on 25th October 1950. From Jamberoo, four and a half miles inland and picturesque Kiama Heights on the sea shore, the Chinese, also in brigade strength, attacked the left flank of the Guards, with the Irish Guards as their target, and the ANZACS 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, astride the coastal Princess Highway.
B Company, 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment and 3 Company, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards were completely overwhelmed by human waves.
To the north, the 5th US Mechanised Brigade’s ‘Duke’ Thackery was one of the few who had faced such attacks before, as a fresh faced young lieutenant in the Ia Drang Valley.
Northwest of Woolongong the US Corps was already dug in, which was not the case for the ANZACs and the British of course.
“Smackdown Zero One this is Red Plume One One, check in?” The 2CG FAC was a Geordie sergeant and although he was filtering out the regional inflections, his voice was raised to the level of shouting in order to be heard over the close quarters combat. Someone was sure as hell in trouble, she thought.
“Zero One, Smackdown is a flight of three times Foxtrot One Fours with fourteen hundred pounds of fuel internal, max of forty five minutes availability, loadout is CBU, Mk-77, 250 pound retarded and a K of twenty mike mike… wotcha got for us Plume?”
“Red Plume One One, IP is at junction of head of Crooked River and railway line…track from IP to target is Two One degrees… distance Four decimal Three miles… elevation Two One Two feet…large number of infantry in the open at 34°42′9.84"S… 150°48′54.30"E…friendlies are danger-close, I say again danger close, at Two One decimal Three degrees, also Four decimal Three miles from IP, and will use smoke to mark friendly, I say again friendly position…drop NORTH of the smoke…egress to the south east…as quick as you can please.”
“Zero One roger, three minutes with Mk 77s…you sound close-in Plume?”
“Red Plume One One, many thanks…close enough for a high five on the pass.”
“Zero One roger, hang in there…Smackdown flight echelon left…now!”
They let down to two thousand feet and on crossing the IP stayed left of track in order to attack west to east. They could see black smoke from mortar and artillery rounds that was drifting away, the shellfire and mortar fire pausing to allow the US Navy aircraft to carry out their ordnance runs.