Word: conge
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...Viet Cong struck just after midnight one night last week, pouring a rain of rocket and mortar rounds on the Special Forces camp and on the sub-sector compound. Part of their 273rd Regiment roared into the undefended town itself, took it over and used its dispensary to treat Viet Cong wounded. At the same time, other elements of the 273rd attacked the subsector compound from the north and west, filtering through the gloom of the rubber trees and throwing themselves against the guns of the 105 men inside...
Despite bombing and strafing by U.S. jets and helicopters zooming in to aid the defenders, the headquarters soon appeared doomed. Punching through the wire, the Viet Cong raced from building to building, setting each afire. They silenced the bunkers one by one, dropping grenades through their slits. Soon only the command bunker and one other were still firing back, and in the command bunker Captain Tran Minh Cong and his twelve men were running out of ammunition. So Captain Cong radioed for Vietnamese army artillery to zero right in on his bunker. The artillerymen were reluctant...
...troops were frequently brought up short by jungle birds whose screeches mimicked the whine of bullets. The almost purple earth underfoot teemed with a fierce breed of red ant whose bite meant torment. But the battalion soon did some tormenting of its own. Running into a company of Viet Cong, it killed 83 in a four-hour firefight that left the bullet-punctured rubber trees bleeding white...
Despite their heavy losses, the Viet Cong tried again next day, this time attempting a two-pronged attack from the east across the airstrip runway. It was a disastrous tactic; a howitzer at the south end of the field was in a position to fire right down the runway-"like shooting down a bowling alley," as one of the gunners put it. As the Viet Cong, 30 and 40 at a time, tried to sprint across the strip, the big howitzer shells exploded in their midst. The gunners fired off 575 rounds during the battle, blistering the paint...
Douse That Light! Next day was the only quiet one in Loc Ninh's bloody week. The Vietnamese irregulars dug huge pits for the Viet Cong dead, washed their clothes in the French Club's swimming pool and helped themselves to the wine cellar. Because the Viet Cong had returned each night to occupy the town itself for a few hours, the villagers were evacuating it by the thousands. To try to build up their morale, the 1st Division sent in medics and armored personnel carriers, and the division band went oompahing through the streets in full battle...