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Baptism Under Fire - Hill 532 continued from page one... Levy's 10
Platoon leads the battalion; the ground in the valley is covered by a
couple of inches of snow. The troops enter a deserted village unopposed.
Two sections of 10 Platoon move from bound to bound, with the
third section covering them. They emerge from the village moving along a
track, a section on each side of the road when a burst of machine gun
fire from the left cuts down two soldiers of 10 Platoon. Levy's platoon
goes to ground and returns fire. Middleton moves through the village and
also comes under fire. Levy is engaged in a firefight for 15 or 20
minutes, then gathers his men and moves forward once again. The valley
is very broad and open; the enemy occupies the high ground atop Hill
532. Levy: "I move my platoon to the right as there appears to be
better foliage for coverage from the enemy." 8 Middleton,
evacuates Levy's casualties from in front of the village and then
continues his advance moving over the frozen rice paddies to the base of
the hill. He presses upward assuming that 10 platoon is ahead of him.
Behind Middleton are Company HQ and thereafter 11 Platoon. The ascent
is through scrub trees. It becomes apparent the Chinese are not on the
lower slopes and so a cautious approach is abandoned, they advance for
another three hours. Still there is no sign of Levy's platoon. Middleton
advises Turnbull, who orders him to keep moving. As D company moves out
of the scrub into a clearing all hell broke loose, machine gun fire
comes from both flanks and the men go to ground. Although the Patricias
are under fire the enemy remains invisible. A Chinese soldier jumps out
of his hole to run up the hill, Middleton's men pick him off; he falls
and rolls downward. "It is a soldier's lot; kill or be killed! The
enemy begins to mortar us, I order the men to dig in. Off to my left I
see the Levy: "We are dog tired, the
foot slogging over four hours has been arduous." 8 Levy
made an error ascending a saddle between Hill 532 and the 3RAR
objective, Hill 410. They have been ascending, descending and once
more ascending through the snow for four hours plus, and are visibly
exhausted. Turnbull, noticeably tense, immediately calls his Orders
Group; directing 10 and 11 platoons to lead the advance, Middleton's 12
platoon to the rear to provide supporting fire, to advance through the
lead platoons once on the objective. Middleton intervenes, "Sir,
Levy and his men are obviously exhausted, my men are fresh, let me take
12 platoon to advance on the right flank and 10 to the reserve
position." 4 Turnbull orders the attack to proceed as
directed. Once again the bogyman of personality and authority is thrust
forth, ruling out common sense; the company commander will not be seen
to tolerate "interference" on the part of a junior officer.
Levy
observes that Turnbull was nervous, Middleton commented that at
times he appeared to be shaking. Turnbull: "These are my orders and
this is the way it is going to be.” 4 Having studied the
ground to the objective for some time Middleton once again speaks up,
"Both Levy and Sergeant Holligan (commanding 11 Platoon) require
more time to check out the lay of the land prior to their advance."
4 Turnbull refuses, the attack will proceed immediately.
Planned air support is off, due to bad weather. The tanks in the valley
cannot provide supporting fire as their 90mm guns will not elevate
sufficiently. Tank dozers are called up; they grade the land so the
tanks gain sufficient elevation to engage hilltop targets. They use both
high explosives and armour piercing ammunition to blow large chunks off
the Chinese bunkers. |