Question: How did they attack in the morning and fight a 2 hour battle and dig in for the night?
Brian McKaQuestion: 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?
Michael EbnerQuestion: Did drill sergeants typically fight with their platoons in WWII?
Answer: No.
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.
raywest
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.