While the Marines were stretched a bit thin, the Japanese Commander thought it a good time to Banzai his way to the beach and attacked where he thought the defenses were the weakest. The Naval fire stopped them cold, but not before inflicting almost a couple of catastrophic friendly fire incidents which almost cost the Marines the line. Fortunately, reinforcements came in the nick of time to bolster what was left of the line and between the troops and supporting fire it made short work of the Japanese. It was well fought on both sides and almost got a victory for the Japanese.