The 1st Battalion secured its initial objective about noon on 3 September. Company B’s next target was a continuation of the ridge running parallel to the MSR for 1,000 yards and topped by 4 conspicuous peaks. Able Company’s second objective was a hill stretching across its front beyond a 200-yard valley. This hill was connected to Stevens’ first objective by a narrow razorback ridge on the right which offered a poor route of approach.[340] [340] _Ibid._ The two companies paused on their newly won positions to reorganize, evacuate wounded, and wait for a resupply of ammunition. There they came under heavy fire from the reverse slopes of their first objective and the high ground to the west. Several casualties were taken before Corsairs, requested by Newton, appeared for an air strike. As the Marine fighter planes unloaded their ordnance, large groups of enemy broke. Most of the Reds fled down the northern slopes, crossed the MSR and ascended Hill 117 in 2/5’s zone. Newton reacted to reports of the rout by throwing heavy artillery fire across the enemy’s avenues of retreat. The hillsides and road were soon littered with bodies and equipment. While 1/5’s attack on its first objective was in progress, Company D had secured the 5th Marines’ right flank by clearing Myong-ni of moderate resistance and seizing the hill to the northwest of the large village. The new company commander, First Lieutenant H. J. Smith, reported to Roise that he was receiving considerable machinegun and mortar fire from Hill 117. This high ground lay directly across 2/5’s front, stretching northward from the MSR to a point about 500 yards west of Myong-ni. Smith’s reports, together with the news of the enemy’s withdrawal to Hill 117 from 1/5’s zone, led Roise to order Company D to attack the high ground from the north and cut off the North Korean retreat. Shortly after 1200, Smith’s company jumped off to the southwest from its positions above Myong-ni and fought across the rice paddies circling the objective. Company E could not advance from the chain of hills won earlier in the day because of enemy troops along the high ridge in Baker Company’s zone south of the MSR. But Jaskilka’s men supported the attack on 117 by fire. A platoon of 75’s from First Lieutenant Almarion S. Bailey’s Anti-Tank Company, taking positions on Jaskilka’s right, quickly knocked out an enemy gun on the objective. The Communists answered with 85-mm. fire from a concealed T-34 tank, killing 2 and wounding 7 of the recoilless rifle crews.