After the Marines abandoned their initial attempts to fight their way to Vegas, Major General Edwin A. Pollock commander of the 1st Marine Division sent observation planes to direct fire for ground artillery and Air Force and Marine planes. Their fire was directed at PVA artillery behind their front lines and at fortifications atop of captured outposts Reno and Vegas. On March 27 over 60 fire missions were called. Marine mortars, artillery, and self-propelled guns contributed to the bombardment. Over 2 dozen Air Force and Marine aircraft also flew missions against PVA positions on the captured outposts, including Grumman F9F Panther jets. Instead of attacking both Reno and Vegas outposts, Pollock ordered attacks to be concentrated just on Vegas. This decision was made at 09:00 as the bombardment climaxed against PVA positions on both outposts. Company D, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines was the first to assault Vegas, but they never reached their objective, and retreated with only 9 able-bodied soldiers remaining. At the same time, D company was pinned down while en route to Vegas. By 13:05, D company had reached the lower slopes of outpost Vegas. By 13:22, the Marines had "gone over the top" on the outpost's hill. E Company soon followed and passed through D Company's ranks to secure the trenches and crest of Vegas. At 18:00, F Company was still behind the other companies from outpost Vegas. After 10 hours of intense fighting on the 27th of March, the Marines had held the lower slopes of Outpost Vegas, PVA soldiers held the opposite slope of outpost Vegas but no-one held the summit. On the morning of 28 March for 23 minutes the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing dropped some 28 tons of bombs on outpost Vegas. Their bombs landed from the lower trenches occupied by the Marines. Up until that time, Marine commanders had hoped they could recapture the outposts with defenses intact in order to be used at another time. But after the unsuccessful Marine attacks the night before, they concluded that the outposts could not be retaken without the necessary fire support and so destroying the facilities of outpost Vegas.At 13:13 E Company gained control of outpost Vegas after heavy fighting and by 14:55 the outpost was secured. At 23:00 more than 200 wounded Marines were kept at a makeshift hospital on the slope of Vegas. Soon after the hospital staff learned that a PVA formation estimated at battalion strength was moving in their vicinity. Armed with as many grenades as they could carry, wounded Marines threw the grenades down the slope in an attempt to blunt the PVA maneuver.