At 0400, with most of their officers and senior NCO's dead or wounded and half the position overrun, the Foreign Legionnaires counterattacked with fixed bayonets and hand grenades. In the savage hand-to-hand combat which ensued, no quarter was given and as dawn rose, the Viet-Minh who had penetrated into the position were being slowly hacked to pieces. They, too, were crack troops, and not a single Viet-Minh withdrew from the position.
