A glance at the Japanese position will show that they were making mistakes too. To begin with, their garrison had been commanded by a naval captain who was responsible for the major blunder of neglecting defenses against parachute attack. He was killed very early in the engagement by a group of 20-30 odd paratroopers who were accidentally carried over the cliffs and dropped in the vicinity of Breakwater Point. Here, without any prearranged orders, they improvised their own tactical plans and assaulted the observation post where, as it chanced, the Jap leader was expectantly waiting for our amphibious landings. No doubt, his death robbed the garrison of any chance they might have had for coordinated command. It was certainly obvious during their operation that they were not being guided by any centralized staff.

Another of their miscalculations lay in their inability to estimate the number of their assailants. Evidently their observation posts were inadequate. Certainly the constant return of our planes gave them an enormously exaggerated impression of our numbers. In fact, a prisoner told us that they believed 8000 men had jumped upon them. This made their position hopeless from the start and led to a factor which finally defeated them--their failure to carry out a prompt attack upon our weak points.