 Before the armor brigade headquarters arrived, the 3rd Division engineers had made two unsuccessful attempts to destroy the bridge with explosive charges.When Colonel Nguyen Trong Luat, the 1st Armor Brigade commander, arrived he decided to leave the bridge intact for the time being, since the PAVN had been stopped and the armor brigade forces were holding.Colonel Luat was preparing to make a counterattack to the north across the bridge when the bridge charges detonated and dropped the near span, putting an end to any counterattack plans.