The night battle on the hilltop was chilling indeed, for the reasons that you and others have mentioned. The only part that fizzled for me was when Capt. Nelson shot off the illumination flare, which lit up the approaching Japanese, allowing the paratroopers to fire at them at will. However, the flare also illuminated the paaratroopers quite clearly, and yet, none of the Japanese were shown to be taking an aggressive return-fire action, which is what you would expect from IJA soldiers in a firefight. They just seemed to kind of flop around and wallow, while under fire.
Also, at daybreak, Capt. Nelson and fellow soldiers looked down that same slope, and there were no dead Japanese soldiers to be seen. I doubt the J crew would have risked life and limb to recover all their dead with the armed paratroopers just mere yards above them. So that part of the fight came off as unrealistic. But otherwise, hell yeah, it was a sobering reminder of what soldiers had to go through in wartime.
"The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind makes an evil sword." — Toranosuke Shimada, “The Sword of Doom“
reply
share
Ironman54
11 years ago
They were dug in which the Japanese were not. And the Japanese were at another disadvantage - they were downhill. Once the flare illuminated them, they had no choice but retreat or attack, running uphill.
I found myself yelling at my TV screen 'Break out a couple of grenades damn it before the flare burns out !!"
Boy was I surprised ... not just a grenade or two but a volley of them that seemed almost like overkill LOL !!
reply
share