The breakthrough of October 7 will take place in appalling conditions. Ambushed everywhere, well sheltered, the enemy is preparing to wreak havoc. Behind every rock, behind every tree, there is a Viet.
Followed by the Tabors, the legionnaires advance meter by meter, under uninterrupted fire. Unequal combat, without outcome. Yet they continue:grenades, knife, everything is good. Of the three hundred combatants, including the wounded, that Segrétain managed to muster before the assault, after a few minutes of combat only one hundred and ten remained...
The Viets did not give way not. They hold the exit of the limestones with several hundred automatic weapons. Almost all officers of the B.E.P. are dead. It was then that the panicked Moroccans started shooting not only at the Viets, but also at the legionnaires, who had to fight back so as not to be shot in the back. The Moroccans are going for it.
The breakthrough, they will make it. The Viets are finally giving way. The Moroccans pass over them, climb the fault. The Tabors of a company of the 8' R.T.M. commanded by Captain Feaugas throw themselves shoulder to shoulder, singing a sacred song. At the end of the assault, there will not be much left. Lieutenant Lefébure, a survivor, will say later:“I had known the war in Italy, in France, in Germany. On the R.C.4, I only saw a butcher's shop to which nothing can be compared".
Lepage's orders have been respected:the breakthrough is made. Behind the Moroccans, the survivors rush. The wounded will be taken.
Doctor-captain Pedoussaut will stay with them. For others, it may be salvation. After climbing a cliff fifty meters high, they come across the Charton column. The junction is made. Three
days late, at the cost of hundreds of deaths.
During the day, the remnants of the Lepage column fell to the west, towards the column Charton. Haggard men, officers without stripes come to weigh down Cao Bang's group, already well tested. Goumiers, their weapons around their necks, let themselves fall, clinging to vines, from the top of the cliff. Exhausted soldiers, definitely defeated, collapse.
Morning of October 7, Charton group:"As soon as day broke, the general situation, in particular that of my group, worsened in a catastrophic way - it is Charton who speaks - At 6 am, all the positions were subjected to violent fire from heavy and light mortars.
“At 6.30 a.m., the company of partisans occupying the peak overlooking Ban Ca - a poorly seasoned and poorly supervised company - allowed itself to be surprised by an attack viet. Rejected from its position, it was practically annihilated.
“Around 7 a.m., after heavy fighting, the 3rd Tabor in turn lost the peak it was occupying. The Viets immediately attacked the peak located 600 meters south of 477. They pushed the goumiers and seized the peak.
“The 3’/3 R.E.I. who, at daybreak, had started to push, according to orders, as far as possible towards That Khé by the heights, finally arrived at 477 and counter-attacked immediately. The piton located 600 meters south of 477 was recaptured without too much difficulty. On the other hand, the most furious assaults on the peak of Quang Liet, for lack of mortar preparation and air intervention, proved useless. Commander Forget was mortally wounded climbing at the head of his men to attack this peak.
“I gave the order not to insist.
“With my meager reserves, I tried to overrun from the west. Despite two attempts, this maneuver failed. It was also led by already demoralized troops, the survivors of Ban Be.
“It was then that the Lepage group arrived in complete disorder, falling back on the positions occupied by my group.
“Moral had to be achieved. The units were mixed and disorganized:
many had run out of ammunition. Partisans, paratroopers of the B.E.P., goumiers, skirmishers, legionnaires piled up behind the 3c/3 R.E.I. or mixed with the battalion.
“I then contacted Colonel Le-page and the various battalion commanders in my group. I explained to them the danger of the situation and asked them to do the impossible to regroup the units to the east of my grouping.