Question: How did they attack in the morning and fight a 2 hour battle and dig in for the night?
Question: In the first combat scene, we see the big climbing net already in place. Who put the net up in the first place and how would that have been done? And why would the Japanese not simply cut it down after the first fights when the US troops retreated?
Question: Did drill sergeants typically fight with their platoons in WWII?
Answer: No.
Question: Why did the Japanese man at the end kill himself?
Chosen answer: Japan's culture is complex and has a long history of ritual suicide ingrained within it. For Japanese, this practice was often expected of someone who had somehow failed, shamed, or otherwise dishonored themselves, their family, their country, and so on. Historically, suicide was also committed by servants after their master died, by Samurai widows, or when people were defeated by their enemies. At the end of WWII, many Japanese soldiers and civilians committed suicide rather than surrender.
Question: What was the point of court martialling Doss? They said he couldn't go to war if he didn't use a gun, and they gave him the option to quit. So why wouldn't they just kick him out?
Answer: Doss faced a court-martial because he refused the direct order of handling a rifle from camp commander Colonel Sangston. If the Army simply kicked him out, it could inspire other men to follow in his footsteps and refuse to carry a rifle. While Doss could not live with that shame, it can be assumed many others would not have that same problem.
Chosen answer: US troops put the net up (in reality the ridge isn't as tall). The Japanese were fighting a defensive battle from heavily fortified positions on a reverse slope, and it suited them to have the Americans attacking from that point. The Americans also used ladders on other parts of the escarpment.