This was a fast, violent battle between weak battalions of Japanese Army and US Marines. The Marines were defending along the edge of the jungle, their front line thinly held. The Japanese planned to concentrate their attack on the Marine left, hoping to punch through with two companies while the remainder of their infantry and HMGs demonstrated against the marine center and right.

Disorientation in the dark jungle night resulted in the Japanese attack initially coming in piecemeal. The Marines started inflicting a steady stream of losses on the Japanese. About halfway through the 3.5 hr battle the Marine lines were clumped into two strong groups, but the Japanese were threatening to infiltrate between them.

After a series of bloody assaults the Japanese had worked around the right flank and were threatening their objective hex. Desperate Marine counterattacks destroyed this threat. In the final 30 minutes, the Japanese major taught a course in night orienteering in the jungle, wending his way between defenders to threaten the objective again. A final desperate Marine assault failed to eliminate the threat, so the battle ended in a draw.