4 real historical locations · Japan
Mel Gibson's film based on the true story of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to carry a weapon yet won the Medal of Honor as a combat medic at Okinawa in 1945. He single-handedly saved 75 men by lowering them down an escarpment under fire.
CinemaMapped has mapped 4 real historical locations where the story takes place, spanning Japan.
Conscientious objector Desmond Doss single-handedly saves 75 soldiers at the Battle of Hacksaw Ridge without firing a shot.
Desmond Doss is the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. Over a single night on May 21, 1945, he lowered 75 wounded men down the 12-metre escarpment. His citation called it 'one of the most consp...
View location →L-Day, April 1, 1945: the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War begins on the western coast of Okinawa with almost no initial resistance.
Operation Iceberg landed 183,000 American troops on Okinawa. The Japanese deliberately withdrew from the beaches to fight from prepared inland positions, shocking American commanders who expected fierce resistance at ...
View location →The ancient Ryukyuan castle served as the underground headquarters of the Japanese 32nd Army directing the defense of Okinawa.
Shuri Castle, built in the 14th century, was converted into a vast underground fortress by the Japanese 32nd Army. Its fall on May 29, 1945 marked the collapse of the main Japanese defensive line, though fighting cont...
View location →Three interlocking hilltops — Sugar Loaf, Horseshoe and Half Moon — that the 6th Marine Division assaulted eleven times in ten days.
Sugar Loaf Hill changed hands fourteen times in May 1945. The Marines suffered 2,662 casualties taking a hill barely 50 feet high. The position was a masterpiece of Japanese defensive engineering with interlocking tun...
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