The Battle of Smithin Town

*"Shit. They're taking a hell of a beating. Let's give 'em a bit of covering fire, shall we?"*

*-Fritz to Kiyashhi and CJ, before entrance into the firefight.*

### Overview

The Battle of Smithin Town was the first major battle in Begonia '68, taking place in Smithin Town, a small village near Khe Sanh named after the late Smithin, a soldier in Begonia battalion that was wounded by setting off a landmine after attempting to "take a shit" in a bush in the town. Most of his buttocks and genitals were destroyed as a result of the blast, putting an end to his notorious sexual reputation amongst begonia battalion. The battle was a hard-fought victory for begonia, suffering heavy casualties. It resulted in the deaths of Shoestring, and 17 other begonia battalion soldiers. 10 as a result of their helicopter being shot down, 4 in Kingsley's huey, and 3 unnamed soldiers in the ensuing battle, including a radio trooper which supplied the radio used to call in the decisive napalm strike which one the battle. 21 Vietcong were killed. 4 killed my miscellaneous soldiers, and 7 killed by Kiyashhi, including Tam and Hong from Begonia Chapter 0. 9 were killed as a result of the napalm strike, including Hoa, who survived the initial fires, but soon succumbed to his burns. The battle started in the latter half of Begonia '68 Chapter I, and continued throughout the majority of Chapter II.

### Prelude

After a hastily drawn up attack plan was made by Colonel Khan and the other high staff of begonia, a strike force was created to destroy the captured gun emplacements at Firebase Jericho that threaten their base. There was only 2 squads sent; Kingsley's squad of 14 (with CJ and Kiyashhi) and Shoestrings squad of 12. They were transported in 4 Bell UH-4 Huey helicopters, (one containing Kingsley, Shoestring, and 8 men, one carrying 10 unnamed soldiers which was shot down after circling for a few hours and being shot down, one containing 4 soldiers including Yogi and Nify who joined the battle later due to landing further out, and finally the last helicopter containing Kiyashhi, CJ and Fritz. Kingsley's helicopter landed at the designated rendezvous before everyone else's, however the village was eerily quiet. A Mercedes-Benz truck rolled down the street, and seeing the vehicle, the soldiers outside the helicopter opened fire, disabling the truck. Suddenly from one of the huts a VC with an RPG-2 fired from the window, hitting the landed helicopter, exploding it killing 4 of Kingsley's men. Around this time CJ's helicopter was hit in the tail with a rocket, sending it spiralling to the ground, getting stuck in a tree. All survived, except the crew, who were impaled with branches on the descent. After a brief firefight with ground VC, CJ, Kiyashhi and Fritz jumped out of the downed chopper into the shrub below as an enemy grenade blew up the wreckage. Sneaking away, they hear on a field radio Kingsley's distress signal and start moving to support the pinned down soldiers.

### Battle

After throwing a smoke grenade in-between the enemy the three slid down a bank into the village. CJ and Fritz ran to a set of crates and oil drums for cover as Kiyashhi provided covering fire from his M16. CJ met up with Kingsley and Shoestring who were also behind the cover. Shoestring was reloading his M60 and CJ did the same despite not firing his rifle yet, likely a product of combat stress. After reloading, CJ turned around to fight the enemy when Tam, a Vietcong soldier, charged at him with his Mosin-nagant rifle with a mounted bayonet. CJ froze in fear, but luckily Kiyashhi saw this and side tackled Tam to the ground, his helmet falling off in the process. He got on top of Tam, wrestling him on the ground. Tam's fury caught Kiyashhi off guard and he overpowered him, getting on top and drawing his machete to kill Kiyashhi. Kiyashhi reached for a weapon, grabbing his knife that was originally tucked in his helmet band, and stabbed Tam in the throat. Tam went limp and fell to the ground, and died choking on his won blood soon after. Kiyashhi let the knife go, and looked at his hands, covered in his enemies blood. He has a flashback to the traumatic first time he killed something, a Pukeko with CJ on his farm in 1957. He is in a state of shock and kneels completely still in the middle of the firefight. CJ calls out to him, worried about him getting shot, when Kingsley points out he is in shock. Kingsley orders Shoestring to go retrieve Kiyashhi, Shoestring protests briefly, but charges out anyway firing his M60. He reaches Kiyashhi and tells him to move, but he does not. Just then, Hong, who was aiming down the street with his PPSh-41, gives in to the order to fire, and lets a burst of 13 rounds into Shoestring, killing him. Kiyashhi suddenly snaps, grabbing the M60 and his M16 and tears off his cross necklace. He goes on a rampage, killing 5 Vietcong before chasing Hong who was attempting to desert, to the side of a hut in a dead end. Hong begs for his life, but Kiyashhi in a rage, caves Hong's skull in with a tomahawk axe.