The commanders, however, needed excuses to declare the battle over, to reassure war-weary Americans back home who didn’t know what the Marines were up against.
Hudson and the others had already moved out, following Martinez, and were surveying the situation. The lieutenant should have been leading them instead of lying down behind them.
Cates understood heroic fighting. As a lieutenant at Belleau Wood in World War I, Cates had become famous for reporting that with most of his men gone, lacking support, and under constant fire, he would hold.
A captured Japanese soldier said there were hundreds of Japanese with weapons and water but little food in the small area ahead of the division. Also, there was a Japanese major general.
