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and failed to diminish the enemy fire. Then the enemy began thrusting at the flanks of the company column.

One enemy automatic rifleman penetrated to within 15 feet of the company command post, located immediately behind the Third Platoon, killing the forward observer's radio operator and wounding two others of the group before a grenade from a rifleman of the Second Platoon dispatched him.

Coleman deployed the Second Platoon to both flanks of the company, linking with the now recoiling elements of the Third. One squad, moving to the right, ran into a hail of automatic weapons fire and took several casualties. The squad counterattacked twice trying to reach its dead, but was beaten back into a position that eventually became part of the company's perimeter.

At about this time (1420), the weather closed in and a torrential downpour drenched the battlefield. The 200-foot high jungle canopy admitted limited light at best, and with the storm, only an eerie twilight penetrated to the jungle flood. The deteriorating weather also precluded the airlanding of any immediate reinforcements for the company. The number of casualties taken by the company, plus the violence of the enemy assaults, led Coleman to decide to abandon efforts to regain the offensive, and concentrate on forming a defensible position on the small patch of high ground the company held.

The First Platoon, next in column, was deployed to the right and rear, assuming control of the one squad of the Second. The Weapons Platoon was assigned to fill the remaining gap. The Weapons Platoon, fighting as riflemen, had barely closed into the perimeter and established some semblance of fighting positions across the trail leading into the position, when the enemy launched a determined attack from the west. It was beaten off, but it served notice to the company that it was cut off and facing an enemy force of much greater strength. Moreover, the enemy dead within the perimeter were clad in khaki uniforms and had the helmet normally associated with North Vietnamese regulars or Viet Cong main force units.

By 1630 hours, Bravo had tightened its perimeter and conducted two probes to the east to recover wounded and dead. The wounded were collected at a central location in the perimeter and the unit medics consolidated to treat them.

The enemy forces also recognized that it had isolated the company and began pressing attacks at various positions of the perimeter, preceding each with a heavy concentration of rockets and grenade launcher fire. Each attack was driven off, but at a cost