Using cargo nets, Doss' battalion was tasked with climbing a treacherous, 400-foot-high jagged cliff, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge, to get to a plateau. Waiting for them were thousands of heavily armed Japanese soldiers entrenched in hidden caves and holes.

How steep was Hacksaw Ridge?

The Maeda Urasoe escarpment is a flat topped mesa of approx. 450 feet in height and due south of Kakazu Ridge. Atop the escarpment is a sheer vertical cliff of 30 feet ( not 90″ like in Mel Gibson's movie ) which was nicknamed Sawtooth and Hacksaw Ridge by the Deadeyes .

How tall was the actual Hacksaw Ridge?

Hacksaw Ridge, a 500-foot-high plateau, is in southern Okinawa. The plateau on top stretched about 4,200 yards from east to west. Its face was a crest consisting of a sheer rock wall that could only be scaled with ladders or special climbing gear.

How many Japanese died at Hacksaw Ridge?

As usual on Okinawa, Japanese casualties were many times greater than the number of American lives lost. Upwards of 3,000 Japanese are believed to have died in the fight for Hacksaw Ridge.

Why didn't they cut the rope at Hacksaw Ridge?

This question has been answered in a documentary starring the actual Desmond Doss. The japanese didn't cut the rope because that was the only entrance to the battlefield.

Hacksaw Ridge: The climb

How many American soldiers died at Hacksaw Ridge?

About 2,500 Americans lost their lives and nearly twice as many Japanese troops. In the movie Hacksaw Ridge, they show Japanese soldiers killing wounded American soldiers.

How many American men died at Hacksaw Ridge?

As fighting surged back and forth over the ridge for several days, about 2,500 Americans lost their lives and nearly twice as many Japanese troops, said Chris Majewski, a former marine who, as director of the island's battle of Okinawa museum, leads regular battlefield tours of the site.

Did the Japanese target medics?

The Japanese liked to target corpsmen and Army medics, as well as doctors. They knew if they hurt or killed someone with medical training, they wouldn't be able to help other wounded Marines or soldiers.

What was the worst place to fight in WWII?

Two US Coast Guardsmen pay homage to their comrade killed in the Ryukyu Islands. The Battle of Okinawa was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War.

How accurate is Hacksaw Ridge?

Most characters in Hacksaw Ridge are real as it is a biographical film. Desmond is the central figure and his life experiences are faithfully depicted. Other characters in the movie are composites or represent multiple people.

Who was the soldier who refused to carry a gun?

Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006) was an American United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. Due to his religious beliefs, he refused to carry a weapon.

What was inaccurate about Hacksaw Ridge?

Factual errors

None of the trainees in Basic Training have the proper haircut. Tom Doss never asked his former commander to write a letter that stopped Desmond T. Doss from being court-martialed.

How many people did Desmond Doss actually save?

Doss saved 75 men — including his captain, Jack Glover — over a 12-hour period. The same soldiers who had shamed him now praised him. “He was one of the bravest persons alive,” Glover says in the documentary. “And then to have him end up saving my life was the irony of the whole thing.”

Did any Japanese survive Hacksaw Ridge?

On May 4, 1945, Doss spent 12 hours single-handedly retrieving and lowering wounded soldiers from the battlefield to safety, down the edge of the cliff at Hacksaw Ridge. He tried to rescue both American and Japanese soldiers, though no Japanese soldiers survived.

What was left out of Hacksaw Ridge?

Undoubtedly one of the bigger omissions from Hacksaw Ridge is that Desmond Doss served in two other battles before Japan. In reality, Doss was at the Battles of Guam and Leyte, both in 1944. The Battle of Okinawa was not until 1945, meaning the film omits Doss' role in the prior two conflicts.

How bloody was Hacksaw Ridge?

Violence & Gore (16)

They are long, and filled with bloody gunfire, graphic stabbings with knives and bayonets, and many explosions which separate limbs and leave blood everywhere. Guts, limbs, intestines, and blood everywhere.

Were the Germans or Japanese harder to fight?

They were radically different. The German was far more skilled than the Japanese. Most of the Japanese that we fought were not skilled men.

Which country was the most cruel in ww2?

The Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) were some of the most systematic perpetrators of war crimes in modern history.

What country killed the most German soldiers in World War II?

Russians also point to the fact that Soviet forces killed more German soldiers than their Western counterparts, accounting for 76 percent of Germany's military dead.

What is the powder soldier put on wounds?

From the collection of The National Liberation Museum, Netherlands, #094.117. If you watch a World War II movie like Band of Brothers, you'll see medics sprinkling a yellow powder on wounds—that's sulfa powder, or sulfanilimade. The ubiquitous bandage packs given to soldiers in the war years were coated in it.

How did the Japanese treat captured soldiers?

The POWs suffered frequent beatings and mistreatment from their Japanese guards, food was the barest minimum, and disease and injuries went untreated. Although the POWs finally received Red Cross packages in January 1944, the Japanese had removed all the drugs and medical supplies.

Was killing a medic a war crime in ww2?

Even though it is a war crime, some soldiers will still attack medics. An example of this is the Japanese military during World War II, when officers would pay soldiers extra money for killing medics.

Who was the soldier who saved 75 lives?

The film switches to real photos and footage showing that Desmond was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for rescuing 75 soldiers at Hacksaw Ridge, as well as real-life footage of Desmond just before his death, recounting his experiences during the war.

Why was Okinawa so bloody?

So close to the home islands, most Japanese soldiers refused to surrender and fought to the death. Their fanaticism contributed to a dreadful toll. Some 110,000 Japanese and conscripted Okinawan defenders were killed in action. The battle created a humanitarian disaster for civilians as well.

Was Iwo Jima or Okinawa worse?

On Iwo Jima, Marines achieved a costly victory as they grappled with tenacious Japanese defenders dug into the island's volcanic terrain. Americans faced even worse on Okinawa, the natural springboard for an invasion of Japan's home islands.