As the Marines formed into a horseshoe @-@ shaped line around Hill 123 , Tamura 's battalion began a series of frontal assaults on the hill , charging up the saddle from Hill 80 and up from below the east side of the ridge . Under the light of parachute flares dropped by at least one Japanese floatplane , the Marines repulsed the first two attacks by Tamura 's men . Tamura 's troops hoisted a 75 mm ( 2 @.@ 95 in ) " regimental " gun to the top of Hill 80 in an effort to fire it directly at the Marines . This gun , which " could have turned the tide in favor of the Japanese , " however , was disabled by a faulty firing pin . At midnight , during a short lull in the fighting , Edson ordered Parachute Companies B and C to advance from behind Hill 123 to strengthen his left flank . With fixed bayonets , the Paramarines swept forward , killing Japanese soldiers who had overrun the Marine lines and were apparently preparing to roll up the Marine lines from the flank , and took position on the east side of the hill . Marines from other units , as well as members of Edson 's command staff , including Major Bailey , took ammunition and grenades under fire to the Marines around Hill 123 , who were running critically low . Said Marine participant Captain William J. McKennan , " The Japanese attack was almost constant , like a rain that subsides for a moment and then pours the harder ... When one wave was mowed down - and I mean mowed down - another followed it into death . "