 Firing upon the Australians with machine @-@ guns , mortars and grenades , the Japanese defenders upon Coconut Ridge held up the advance . Throughout the rest of the day , the 2 / 48th Battalion undertook a series of flanking attacks in which at least 80 Japanese were killed , however by nightfall the Japanese still held the ridge , and the 2 / 48th Battalion withdrew to a nearby knoll to reorganise , having suffered six killed and 26 wounded . Elsewhere , the other two Australian battalions had also found the going slow : the 2 / 24th had dug in east of the 2200 feature , while the 2 / 23rd had only managed to advance about half the expected distance . 
