Mellas and his men move forward, knowing that the odds are stacked against their success. Almost immediately after the firing begins, Mellas and his men are pinned down by NVA shooters. Mellas and four other men ended up hiding behind a big log. Jermain rolls off and throws a grenade at the NVA positions, but he’s shot in the process. Mellas radios to Fitch and explains the situation. If they don’t take out the NVA machine guns, they’re all going to die.

An idea appears in Mellas’s head, and he seems to see the situation as if from above. He can tell where the main machine gun is, and what he can do to take it out. He instructs the men to train their fire on two bunkers while he makes a run for it. With the men providing cover, Mellas sprints for the NVA machine gun, dodging bullets all the while. He turns around and sees that Cortell and a few the other soldiers have followed him. He and Cortell are able to toss their grenades into the pit where the machine gunner is, taking out the NVA soldier and providing a hole in the line through which the Marines can pass.

Goodwin is approaching the landing zone on Matterhorn from the other direction, and he instructs Mellas to hold back his men while Goodwin’s platoon assaults the landing zone with grenades. His instructions are too late for Robertson, one of Mellas’s soldiers, though. Robertson reaches the landing zone and is ripped through with the grenades tossed by Goodwin’s platoon.

At this moment, Mellas hears cheers coming from Helicopter Hill, where Blakely, Simpson, and the other commanders are watching the action as if it’s a football game. Mellas becomes enraged at the commanders’ behavior, so he orders a vicious attack on the retreating NVA troops. The men push forward, killing everyone in sight.

As Mellas moves on an NVA bunker, an enemy soldier tosses a grenade in his direction. A loud explosion occurs and Mellas blacks out. He comes to a few minutes later, covered in blood. He seems to be okay but for the fact that he cannot see out of one eye. He gets back up and continues to lead the attack. Eventually, all of the NVA troops have retreated to the north, and Matterhorn is once again under the control of the U.S. military.

The soldiers discover that the NVA has left land mines all over the landing zone, and a few soldiers are killed by the buried bombs.

Talking to Fitch, Mellas learns that Simpson is so pleased by the success of the assault that he wishes he could have filmed it with a movie camera. Enraged by the flippancy of Simpson’s comment, Mellas storms down the hill with his rifle, thinking he will shoot the hated commander. Hawke follows him, though, and keeps him from committing the horrible act.