they were expecting and planning to fight rommel, the nazi in the desert sands of north africa when generals decided to redeploy them to alaska. they sent many u.s. troops wearing desert gear. one of the biggest problems was boots. as you see, when you do these traverses across places like fish hook ridge, one misstep would cost you your life. meanwhile, japanese are fortified in the highlands shooting down at them. and so u.s. troops have been told this might take three days against the garrison of about 3,000 japanese men, almost three weeks later, they're still fighting. the japanese were really smart. although -- well, the japanese who remain on the island were really smart. an amazing thing was, they were a garrison of 3,000 men who were abandoned by their country. they never came for a rescue. the island was blockaded, surrounded by u.s. troops, and the japanese government simply gave up on them. this turned into kind of the japanese version of the alamo. and so the japanese decided not to fight the americans on the beaches. they hold up in the highlands. and with fog and clouds liftin