In the 17th Brigade sector, where the peak of Mount Tambu remained in Japanese hands, operations shifted to the Goodview area. On 4 August Conroy's 2/5th Battalion staged an attack with two companies south of Goodview Junction. Captain Cam Bennett's B Company had the major role. Damien Parer said of him: ‘Cam Bennett is great – big & easy & calm-the real AIF.’ Bennett handed Lieutenant Brian Hodge's 12 Platoon the task of capturing the Japanese razorback knoll position that over-looked the junction of Walpole's and Mule Tracks. Bennett charcterised Hodge as being ‘tall and lithe, with startling light grey-blue eyes. He got on well with and was absolute boss of his platoon and was a complete enthusiast.’

By 0900 Hodge's men had gained a foothold on the position now known as Hodge's Knoll. The platoon held all day against steadily increasing enemy pressure that culminated with a heavy attack from three sides at 1630. Bennett's other platoons had attempted to get up on to the knoll to assist Hodge but were unsuccessful. Lieutenant Bill Lind's 10 Platoon tried to push down Walpole's Track on Hodge's right but was stymied by enemy pillboxes astride the track. Having lost seven men killed and ten wounded in the heavy fighting, Hodge's platoon withdrew, leaving behind twenty-eight Japanese dead.