The French column had been ambushed by the Viet Minh and had to retreat to a nearby hill.
The Viet Minh followed up on them and after engaging in desultory fighting the French were running out of time. They had to break through the enemy lines and get their column back on the road.
The French pushed forward on both flanks with a heavy assault on the right managing to break up the Viet Minh on that side. They were not out of danger there though as more enemy forces were drawn over from the other side.
The Viet Minh fell back to draw the French further in. They then launched an attack on the two French fireteams that were probing forward coming after them. A heated exchange of fire left both French teams dead and the French reeling from the loss of command.
The Viet Minh took advantage of the temporary confusion in the French lines and pushed forward again against the French right. But the tenacious paras were able to hold them off and inflict heavy casualties, opening up the way to their objective.
The paras made a break for it and the few remaining Viet Minh forces were not able to stop them and fell back, knowing that they had given better than they had gotten.