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.
His iron determination and unflagging courage resulted in at least 75 lives saved that day, May 5, 1945, his Sabbath. Eventually, the Americans took Hacksaw Ridge.
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.
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.
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.
'I've Never Been More Wrong About Someone in My Life' Scene | Hacksaw Ridge
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.
[1]Desmond Doss is credited with saving 75 soldiers during one of the bloodiest battles of World War II in the Pacific — and he did it without ever carrying a weapon. The battle at Hacksaw Ridge, on the island of Okinawa, was a close combat fight with heavy weaponry.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There was hand-to-hand combat on Hacksaw Ridge, but not the way it was depicted in the film. In the film, American and Japanese troops charge at each other with bayonets, knives, and the like as if they were on a medieval battlefield, and did not have accurate high powered rifles and machineguns at their disposal.
Yes, Hacksaw Ridge is based on a true story, and the source material for the same has been derived from Terry Benedict's novel, The Conscientious Objector. Desmond Doss is a real-life hero and a combat medic during World War II who served his country without carrying a weapon.
The battlefield, located on top of a sheer 400-foot cliff, was fortified with a deadly network of Japanese machine gun nests and booby traps. The escarpment, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge for the treacherously steep cliff, was key to winning the battle of Okinawa.
Hacksaw Ridge grossed $67.2 million in the United States and Canada and $113.2 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $180.5 million, against a production budget of $40 million. The film opened alongside Doctor Strange and Trolls, and was projected to gross around $12 million from 2,886 theaters.
At around the halfway mark, the fighting comes, and the film explodes into a kaleidoscope of horrors. To put it bluntly, Hacksaw Ridge contains some of the most gruesome and brutally violent mass battle scenes I've ever seen on the big screen.
In doing so, the Allied forces had a foothold for the planned invasion of mainland Japan. However, the development of the atomic bomb led to the surrender of Japan, meaning the war ended only a few months after the successful capture of Hacksaw Ridge.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
