around the next bend in the trail. And the men kept climbing and were silent. The Communists were not fooling Craig nor the Colonel nor anyone else in the Brigade, for they were under direct observation by the burly Captain and Gunnery Sergeant who as a team were probably the finest reconnaissance scouts operating ahead of the American lines. The Captain was soon to be badly wounded while swimming the River Han, during the final scouting for the attack upon Seoul . . . and his Gunnery Sergeant was soon to be shot for the third time, while working far ahead of even the other scouts. But at this time, during the counterattack upon the Reds' break-through, they kept Brigade and Battalion fully informed of every move made by the enemy. Terse commands came down through the battalion, and one lone company of men kept moving forward. BAKER Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment had drawn the short straw—they were to lead the assault upon the enemy-held country just ahead. The Marines were not fooled by the breathless, voiceless calm that filled the heavy afternoon air. They could almost guess what the quietly-waiting enemy had in store for them this time. Many of them knew every toehold leading up to the nearly treeless crest above—and even the newcomers had heard enough about it to recognize its shape as they took last drags from last cigarettes and peered at it from the fields below . . . . Once again they were attacking the hills facing bloody “No-Name Ridge.” At first, on the lower slopes, there was no contact as squads of men gingerly inched ahead, and yet, for all the casualness of those other Marines already sheltered behind even the slightest hillock or farmer's furrow, the men still moving up across the rolling naked land could feel every enemy eye in all of Asia peering across rifle sights aimed squarely at their hearts and just waiting for the instant when they stepped into perfect range. Then everything happened at once. The stillness was broken forever as machine-guns opened fire from all along the ridge ahead. Marine machine-guns threw back answering fire. Other Marines were on their bellies, firing, waiting 82 l Ⅳ. The Hill This is War!
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