 Initially unsuccessful, over the next few days the number of enemy dead slowly mounted as the result of over a dozen clashes with the Americans.On the morning of 15 February a platoon from Company B, 2/7th Cavalry, came under small-arms and mortar fire while patrolling about 4 km southeast of Firebase Bird, near the valley center.Captain Diduryk, the company commander, initially estimated that the opposing force was no larger than a reinforced platoon, but it soon became apparent that he had bumped into at least two companies occupying a 300m long position running along a jungled streambank and up a hillside.