The satpix relayed to Freeman wasn’t of the best quality, but it told him exactly what had happened — a massive train wreck on the PLA’s main line of communication. He didn’t hesitate, and like a juggler in midact, shifted all his attention from one problem, Dien Bien Phu, to the other, ordering all elements of Second Army in the Disney area to press home a dawn attack preceded by a creeping barrage from the 105mms and 155mms on the margin between the southern base of the hill and the flooded paddies.
Even as his artillery began to pulverize the PLA positions on the north side of Disney, Freeman, like a good political cadre, was making “damn sure,” as he put it to his senior commanders, that every man in the USVUN force on Disney would know that the PLA’s logistics line had been severed and that this was the best chance they had.
As a gray dawn stole upon the hill, the USVUN troops— over ten thousand of them — moved from Disney’s ridgeline to the northern slope. It was touch and go for six and a half hours of close combat, but like one grain at a time in an hourglass, the ratio of mortars between the USVUN and the PLA moved from 1:1 to 2:1 to 3:1 in the allies’ favor.
Wei’s commanders had to give ground, not much at first — a hundred yards or so — but by 0115 the USVUN had pushed off Wei’s best troops. Running low on everything because of the train wreck, particularly ammunition, the PLA had to give more ground until it was a rout and Freeman’s forces owned the hill. This also allowed the U.S. air cavalry to put down its helos without being fired upon from Disney’s crest.