Corporal Denny had his SAW trained on the mounted PLA infantryman manning the 12.7mm when the first shot rang out. Instantly, a second and a third went off as he started unleashing rounds at his target - about seventy-five meters away, the tiny profile of a shoulder and head, mostly obscured from view by metal. Sparks flew up from where his initial volley made contact just below the gunner, along the side of the vehicle. he steadied his aim and brought the weapon to bear a little higher as he felt his bullets whiz over or just to the side of the target. Perhaps they were hitting flesh, perhaps missing it altogether. He readied and fired another volley into the target. This time, he could directly see the bullets glancing around the metal frame of the 12.7mm MG mounted on top and it was no longer moving. Threat down? Who could tell? He let loose one more volley then turned his eyes on the other happenings going on around him.
The front of the APC he was firing on was on fire. My lord, Denny thought, did they actually get one of those 40mm grenades into the window? Denny fired a short burst into the windows of the APC to make certain no one was alive in there. Suddenly he became aware of muzzle flashes coming from behind the target, in the woods directly behind it.
At the same time Corporal Denny was making work of the turret gunner, Corporal Ferris watched as two sniper bullets pierced the front Window of the APC. Then immediately two explosions erupted from the face of the vehicle. He couldn't tell if they started from the hood or inside the vehicle but the entire front of it was in flames. He glanced over at the back of the vehicle, he could see that the back door had opened and troops were spilling out. Unfortunately, at the angle he had, mostly from the front, he couldn't see what they were doing. Mostly he saw elbows of men coming off and immediately heading to the other side of the vehicle. Corporal Denny, beside him, was relentless on his SAW. He noticed some firing coming from within the tree line when he spotted smoke rising from four places between the Recon Marines and the APC. Smoke was starting to fill the area and he caught a glimpse of the second APC for the first time. It's 12.7mm MG was blasting into the woods to their north as the body of the APC lurched forward and the APC came closer to their position.
Ferris slapped Denny twice on his helmet and reached over to point out this new target. Something must have happened to the other two SAWs as one of them was surely responsible for the other MG on the other enemy APC. At any rate, Corporal Denny took aim at the other MG and fired away. The shots were difficult as the smoke was starting to obscure his line of fire. But he felt he landed a few volleys near, if not on, the MG and its mounted gunner. The APC pulled up alongside its wounded comrade and stopped. The vehicle launched four smoke canisters towards the Marines and the entire field started filling with smoke, leading in an angle about seventy meters down the forest where the last smoke canister landed just shy of the tree line. This created a line of smoke running from the APC towards the tree line the Marines were using for cover.
One of the 40mm grenades must have hit its mark because suddenly the entire front of the second APC burst into flames. Corporal Denny and Ferris could both see massive flames inside the cockpit of the vehicle now as smoke drifted up from the front. The gunfire coming from the opposite treeline was getting heavy and Denny could hear the rounds impacting the trees above him. He trained his SAW over towards the muzzle flashes and let loose a few bursts at his chosen target. With all the smoke and the foliage there, he couldn't tell whether he was hitting his mark. He started getting a little infuriated but stayed calm and moved his aim towards another flash and let loose another deadly barrage.
The smoke had now created a full wall across the right portion of the battle field and Denny and Ferris heard a new round of gunfire erupting from beyond the smoke towards where the other teams were set up. His MBITR erupted in calls for Corpsman up! Second squad had PLA infantry right in front of them. They had used the smoke screen to maneuver over to their flank and were in the tree line with them on the far side.
The right flank was guarded by two marines, Corporals Wiseman and Gold. While watching the flank, smoke from the enemy APC had completely blocked their line of view towards the existing fight. It was now apparent that a group of enemy infantrymen had used the smoke and flanked the marines. They were now in the trees with them.
Wiseman was the first to spot the threat. Lying in ambush position, he reached his leg over to Corporal Gold and shook Gold's leg to indicate "enemy spotted". Wiseman saw two PLA soldiers moving rather quickly through the forest directly at them. He let loose with his automatic rifle putting three bullets into the chest of the first soldier. The second soldier dropped behind a tree and started barking commands. Suddenly gunfire erupted from behind that position and bullets were whizzing above him.
Corporal Gold reported the enemy contact on his MBITR and launched a hand grenade as far as he could towards the enemy from his prone position. The explosion was only about twenty meters from the men and suddenly more explosions rang out right around them sending tree branches dirt and shrapnel all around them. Corporal Wiseman could feel the sting of impact wounds in a few spots on his body. The wind was completely knocked out of him, his ears were ringing and his vision was almost completely blocked by both a dizzying feeling in his head and debris floating in the air. He could see a fuzzy curtain of colors in front if him come alive with muzzle flashes from the trees but couldn't hear anything. He fired back at the enemy positions as best he could but couldn't tell what was happening anymore. It seemed like a dream world. He looked over at Corporal Gold and saw him forcing himself back onto his stomach. The Corporal had been hit in the leg but was forcing himself back into position to fire at the enemy.
Wiseman continued to fire his weapon at the opposing threat until he ran out of ammo and needed to reload his clip. His vision was starting to come back some but he was still totally deaf in both ears. As he was reloading he saw three PLA soldiers advancing towards them. Corporal Gold landed a few shots on the first soldier and moved his weapon to aim at the second when he was hit by multiple bullets to the upper chest and shoulders. The bullets ripped through his unprotected skin at the soldier and he plunked down losing consciousness.
Corporal Wiseman shot at the second PLA soldier and the third dropped down to return fire from a prone position. A couple bullets whizzed by right next to him from PLA soldiers further back in cover. He was unaware of Gold's situation as he couldn't hear anything and his sight was still a little blurry. Suddenly he could see shots flying over his head towards the enemy position. He turned back to see the remainder of the second squad had moved into position to aid him. That was when he noticed Corporal Gold was down. Immediately he yelled for a corpsman into the MBITR.
