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The initial Japanese attack was launched by the 2nd Company (roughly 100 men) over the sand bar. Screaming battle crys they poured onto the sand bar and straight into Marine firepower. Leaving a trail of dead and dying the Japanese drove down the sandbar, only to halt when they reached the single-strand of barbed wire, some 30 yards in front of the Marine positions. The leaders examined the wire, fearing that it had been electrified. Taking full advantage of the pause, the Marines poured fire into the group of Japanese soldiers. But the Ichiki Detachment was not considered to be a shock unit without cause. Snipping or flattening the barrier, the last few survivors swirled about the marine fighting holes and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

For nine months, Allied units had often ran to the rear, abandoning duty when confronted by shrieking Japanese infantry. But the Marines were grass-green, but resolute, for all they knew, this was what combat was supposed to be like. And they held their ground and killed Japanese. One story perhaps best shows the determination of the marines. One machine gun, posted near the focal point of the breakthrough entered Marine folklore. The gunner, Private Rivers poured hundreds of rounds into the attacking Japanese until a bullet struck him in the face, killing him. Even as he died, he held the trigger down and emptied a last 200 round box into the attackers. Corporal Diamond then manned the gun until he was wounded in the arm. His place was taken by Private Schmid then fired the gun into an exploding grenade sent fragments into his eyes, blinding him, but he fought on with his pistol.

Ichiki sent the 2nd and 3rd Companies into the attack, but no progress was made. They were able to finally knock out the 37mm gun that had created such havoc on the sand bar. Seeing the penetration, the battalion commander ordered a platoon from his reserve into the line. Within the hour, the line was restored and all of the Japanese who had crossed the wire were dead.

With his main assault blunted, Ichiki used his machine gun company and his battalion guns in an attempt to gain fire superiority, but his attempt failed as the Marines called in the 75mm howitzers of the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines. The marine artillery fire created disorder among Ichiki's men as they rallied for another assault.

In another effort to break the marine lines, a company was sent through the surf and around the open beach flank of the marines but this assault was raked by machine gun fire and then deluged under artillery. Leaving a few men and machine guns to harrass the marines, Ichiki withdrew his mand into a coconut grove some 200 yards from the marine lines.

In this latter phase of the fighting, Martin Clemens, the coastwatcher now attached to Division Intelligence received word that his chief scout, Sergeant Major Vouza was desperately wounded but insistent on telling Clemens his story. Vouza had arrived at a small village when he was captured by a party of Japanese, discovering a small American flag on his person, he was interrogated. When Vouza refused to talk, he captors tied him to a tree and then pounded him with rifle butts and finally jabbed bayonets into his chest and arms. He remained silent, so, with one final slash of a bayonet across his throat, the Japanese left him to die. Regaining consciousness hours later, Vouza managed to chew his way through the ropes and then made his way back to the marine perimeter. Weakened by blood loss, Vouza crawled the last three miles on his hands and knees. Completing his story, he then gasped out a description of the size and equipment of the Japanese unit that he had seen. As Clemens held his hand, Vouze finished by dictating a last message to his wife before finally collapsing. Whisked to a hospital, Vouza staged an amazing recovery. Within two weeks he was back on his feet and was soon once again on patrol. General Vandegrift adwarded Vouza the Silver Star and then conferred a much rarer honor by appointing Vouze a Sergeant Major of the United States Marine Corps.