Those who were not pinned by the machine-gun fire maneuvered their units against the nearest Iranian positions. The techniques the paratroopers used were the same they had used against the Iranians while mopping up Bandar Abbas: find them, pin them, get around them, kill them. The Apaches assisted in this effort. They circled overhead, trying to sort 112 out good guy from bad guy. When they had a positive ID on an Iranian position, they went after it with 2.75-inch rockets or 30mm. cannons. Between the Apaches and the ground attack, the Iranian positions in the immediate vicinity of the landing zone were overwhelmed and silenced within ten minutes.
After the firing stopped, Cerro turned command of his platoon over to Sergeant Arnold and made the rounds to determine what the situation was with the rest of the company. He was pleased to find that, despite the loss of two Blackhawks, casualties had been light. The Blackhawk that had crashed on its belly had lost only one man, the paratrooper who had run out into the blades. The crew of that aircraft, dragging their door guns with them, had joined the company. The XO's Blackhawk, on the other hand, had taken everyone with it. The entire company headquarters element, except for the first sergeant, was dead. There were only a few other casualties, however- not enough to keep the company from carrying on with its mission.
Satisfied that all was in hand, Cerro gave one of the company's three remaining radios to the other platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Robert Kinsley, and ordered him to hold the landing zone with his platoon until the follow-on forces arrived. Cerro, with 2nd and 3rd Platoons, would begin to move into Tarom. The faster they got moving, the better chance they had of seizing — their objective while the enemy was off balance. Besides, taking the battle to the enemy kept them away from the airhead and increased the odds for the follow-on force. With a three-man point team two hundred meters in front, A Company started for Tarom.
Rahimi watched the Apaches circle overhead, then turn to the south and fly off. Satisfied that they had left the area, he assembled his counterattack force and briefed his subordinates. He divided his men, sending a group of fifty under a young captain directly against the airhead to draw the Americans' attention. With a force of one hundred men and the mortars, he would swing to the north and hit the airhead from the flank or the rear.
Ideally, the smaller force would cover the move of the encircling force and suppress the Americans when the en circlers made their attack.
However, Rahimi had no radios with which he could coordinate his two forces.
They would have to trust in Allah to see them through.
The paratroop company had covered half the distance between the landing zone and Tarom when one of the men from the point team came running back with the report that a force of forty to fifty Iranians was headed straight for them. Cerro halted the company, gathered his platoon leaders and issued orders to prepare an L-shaped ambush. Moving the company back to a curve in the trail that the Iranians would be using, he placed the 2nd Platoon on one shoulder so that they could fire down the trail; they were the base of the L. The 3rd Platoon was deployed twenty meters off the trail along the length of it, forming the stem of the L. If the Iranians continued down the trail, A Company would be able to hit them with a crossfire.
The platoons dispersed and prepared. Cerro sent the point man to find a spot within view where he could both watch the Iranians' advance and warn the company of their approach. The men in the two platoons forming the ambush set up their machine guns, claymore antipersonnel mines and 60mm. mortars and found the best firing positions they could. In less than five minutes, all was set.
Cerro lay among the rocks, watching the lookout man and the trail. When the lookout gave the signal, Cerro relayed it to the platoon leaders.
Everyone hunched down as low as he could and waited. The Iranians came on as a group. There were two men out in front, their point, but they were too close to the main body. Any trap they fell into would also involve the others. The Iranians in the main body, instead of being spread out as was the practice in the U.S. Army, were huddled together, almost shoulder to shoulder. Cerro watched and decided that they had to be militia. The motley assortment of uniforms and weapons and the way they moved showed they had little training. That suits me fine, Cerro thought.
I've had enough challenges for the day.
Seemingly by accident, one of the Iranians in the middle of the column noticed something out of the ordinary along the side of the trail. The man stopped and looked toward the unusual object for a moment, then called to one of the officers. The two went over to examine it-a dark-green claymore mine sitting among the sand-colored rocks. Cerro watched the pair while the rest of the column continued into the ambush. Another thirty seconds and the entire column would be in the kill zone and he could spring the ambush.
Just thirty seconds.
The paratrooper holding the detonator for the claymore didn't give Cerro the thirty seconds. Feeling that the two curious Iranians were close enough, he hit the detonator when they were less than five feet from the mine. The explosion shredded the curious Iranians and caught both ambushers and ambushed off guard. For a moment everyone hesitated. The paratroopers recovered first, cutting loose with a hail of fire and a volley of claymore mines. Those Iranians who survived the first volley were caught in a withering crossfire punctuated by 60mm. mortar explosions. Panicked, they turned away from their attackers and attempted to escape.
Bullets travel faster than a man can run, however. It took a few seconds for the survivors to realize this. Then, seeing no escape and with their leaders down, they turned either to fight to the death or to surrender.
This resulted in confusion as the Iranians desiring to surrender found themselves next to those resisting. The paratroopers didn't take the time to sort them out at first, firing well-aimed bursts at anything that stood or moved. Only when Cerro ordered a cease-fire did the paratroops take better aim, killing only those who chose to become martyrs.
The firing coming from his flank caught Rahimi off guard. He halted his column for a moment to check his bearings. Satisfied that he was still headed in the right direction, he came to the conclusion that his other column had been hit before it reached the American 115 perimeter.
It was in trouble, but there was nothing he could do to help it.
Besides, its mission was to divert the Americans' attention. From the sounds of the fighting, it was doing so. Rahimi continued forward.
The 2nd and 3rd Platoons had just finished rounding up their prisoners and checking the dead when they heard explosions and machine-gun fire from the direction of the landing zone. Even before Lieutenant Kinsley radioed his spot report, Cerro knew what was happening. He looked at his map, then asked Kinsley whether he could hold for ten minutes.
Without hesitation, Kinsley gave him an affirmative.
Althought he felt uneasy about doing so, Cerro divided his force again.
Leaving a small group to cover the prisoners, he took the balance of his men and began to move toward the sound of the firing. It was his intent to circle around the Iranians and hit them from the flank rather than go head to head with the attackers. He ran the risk of running into an ambush like the one he had just sprung on the Iranians, but there seemed to be no alternative that made sense.
Rahimi drew his men back to regroup. Their first attempt to break the American perimeter had failed. The fact of the matter was that he had not been able to organize a proper attack. The lead element had stumbled onto the American positions and become involved in a firefight. Before all surprise was lost, Rahimi had rushed forward with his entire force, attempting to bull through, but failed in the face of superior firepower and organization. Seeing no hope of succeeding on the first try, Rahimi broke it off. They had suffered heavy losses. He now had fewer than sixty men and two dozen mortar rounds. If they didn't succeed on their second attempt, there wouldn't be enough for a third.
While his men gathered, he listened for signs that the fight to his rear was still going on. There were none. Not wanting to be surprised, he sent a small detachment back to provide security.
As the two platoons moved forward, Cerro kept contacting Kinsley for updates. Neither one knew for sure why the Iranians had broken contact or what they were up to. There was the very real possibility that the Iranians were turning against Cerro's column. If that was the case, Kinsley was to remain in place. The second lift was due in momentarily. The landing zone had to be held.
As a precaution against surprise, Cerro had his two platoons disperse.
Advancing in a line, they could go over to the attack or assume a hasty defense if attacked. Cerro could feel the tension building as they approached. Every step took them closer to an unseen enemy who might or might not be waiting for them the way Alpha Company had waited for the first Iranian column. Their current situation suddenly reminded him of a great game of hide-and-seek. It was a hell of an analogy. But at that moment it was
