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.
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 .
Real-life hero Desmond Doss saved 75 soldiers in WWII without firing a shot, as depicted in the 2016 biographical war film Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson. Despite some minor changes to the story, Hacksaw Ridge was praised by Doss's son for its historical accuracy.
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.
Doss spent a grueling 12 hours on Hacksaw Ridge, saving the lives of 75 people, including his captain, with his acts of bravery as a combat medic. Doss deflected enemy grenades and sustained injuries but remained at the top of the cliff, refusing to leave until all injured soldiers were brought to safety.
E154: Tour of Hacksaw Ridge - WW2 Okinawa Battle Sites
How many Japanese died at Hacksaw?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Who was the highest ranking soldier killed in ww2?
Among the dead was the Tenth Army's commander, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., killed on June 18 by enemy artillery fire during the final offensive. He was the highest-ranking American general killed in action during World War II.
Originally Answered: After watching "Hacksaw Ridge", my question is why didn't the Japanese just cut that rope ladder? 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.
What was not historically accurate in Hacksaw Ridge?
"[Mel Gibson and I] were very accurate with Desmond and what happened to him," veteran producer Bill Mechanic tells PEOPLE. But, he admits "we were not accurate on some of the details around it," like the exact backstory of Doss's father, or the chronological details of his marriage to his wife, Dorothy.
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Corporal Desmond T. Doss (7 February 1919 - 23 March 2006) was the first conscientious objector (he detested that phrase, preferring "conscientious cooperator") to receive the Medal of Honor and one of only three so honored.
The Japanese soldiers utilized underground tunnels and bunkers across the ridge which forced American troops to scale the cliff-like terrain to get to the enemy. Both sides bore heavy losses, but on May 6, 1945, the Americans gained control of Hacksaw Ridge.
Who was the last US soldier executed for desertion?
Of the thousands of American soldiers court-martialed for desertion in World War II, Eddie Slovik was the only one put to death. One of the judges who convicted him looks back with regret.
Desmond Thomas Doss died at his home in Piedmont, Alabama, of a respiratory ailment on 23 March 2006 and was buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery, in Tennessee.
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. By 1939, when Domagk was in Gestapo detention, it was used worldwide.
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.
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.
The "Bulge" was the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II and the second deadliest battle in American history.
In the Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, the Philippines, the Battle of the Java Sea, the Battle of Savo Island, the Battle of Santa Cruz, there was one other naval battle off Guadalcanal the US lost. in Notth Africa, Kasserine Pass.
