Chapter 11: Haig  

      Haig never heard the enemy bugles blow at 0520 hrs., signaling for the main human-wave attack against his northeastern perimeter to begin. Neither did he see the flashes from the satchel charge explosions, which destroyed two of his C company bunkers, instantly killing the C company men inside. He had been much too focused on making sure that his officers, NCOs, and their RTOs, who were crowded around him in the command bunker, had their wits about them. That trait in Haig, allowing him to assess and steady his people, at times like this, was a rare ability indeed in the Big Red One. Haig had that ability, and so did Cavazos. However, Haig had not been in command of the Blue Spaders long enough to ensure that most officers and NCOs were up for the task. They would soon prove to Haig that they were. Haig’s men were veterans of enough small fights to now be able to handle this big attack, with the grim determination necessary to excel at repelling anything their enemy was able to throw at them. 

     Haig excelled at tactics during this battle. I cannot help but think that some of that ability came from being dragged so often to the front lines in Korea as an aide to General Ned Almond. Haig knew he wanted artillery to take precedence over close-in air strikes. The big bombs on the phantom jets were to be used to bust up enemy assembly areas a little further back, but not as far back as the arbitrary 1000-meter S.O.P. called for. Air strikes were just too blunt an instrument and very sporadic. A jet could only drop one or two bombs at a time and often missed the mark. The enemy was not about to give Haig a timeout while the pilot returned to base to fetch another bomb. Artillery, on the other hand, could keep coming and could be fine-tuned to be dropped very close to friendly troops. Now, while the enemy mortar blasts were subsiding outside the command bunker, the rifle pops were increasing. Haig began to focus intently on each of the multiple streams of radio transmissions around him. He was good at spotting and dealing with the slightest hiccup. Tactical errors would be spotted in those transmissions and addressed immediately, but not as harshly as the ghost of General Ned Almond may have desired. It wasn't long before Lazzell's voice became one of those transmissions. It wasn't a hiccup. It was just good information. Lazzell was verifying what Haig had already suspected would happen. "We are receiving a lot of incoming small arms fire on the northeast and east side of our perimeter", Lazzell reported in the best command voice he could muster. Though he said nothing to anyone, including Lazzell, Haig knew this was probably a diversionary attack, which meant that his Blue Spaders could expect the full force of General Thanh's wrath on their eastern perimeter, and not where Lazzell’s report was indicating an increase in small arms fire was occurring. Another radio report was saying that Fire Base Charlie was being shelled. A FO (forward observer) was already on the horn to one of our artillery officers at Thrust, asking him to take up the slack. I say all this to say that the command bunker was a busy place, with command personnel doing what they should have been doing while a listening Haig tweaked where he needed to tweak. People were working the crap out of those radios. Haig was tuning his ears in and out of conversations. Suddenly, he heard the distinctive voice of his “C” Company Commander, Captain Brian Cundiff, saying his northeastern side of the perimeter was being overrun. This was confirmation of the main attack, which Haig had been expecting. He grabbed the mic from the hand of his Romeo 6 and started to address Captain Cundiff, by his radio call sign, Charlie 6. Cundiff abruptly interrupted him. "The bastards are in the bunkers with us", Cundiff blurted out, for all the world to hear. Upon hearing that, Haig immediately reassured his junior officer, letting him know that help was on the way. Without saying a word, Haig reached down and grabbed his AR-15 and then charged out of the command bunker, while his radio operators scrambled to keep up. In a few seconds, he was staring into the face of that nameless recon platoon sergeant, telling him to have his recon platoon saddle up and follow him. He had walked the lines enough to know exactly where he was going, and now, just like the day before, Haig ran, while facing a hail of bullets, toward  Captain Cundiff's position. There was a real danger of a friendly fire situation if those recon guys following Haig did not pick their targets carefully. However, just like the day before, Recon Platoon's fire control was flawless.