. Had the Japs taken advantage of these weaknesses, as they might have done, the tables would have been turned. The paratroops would have been trapped on Top-Side, and the overpowering numbers of Jap marines would have made their position most precarious. There was, for a time, a very grave danger of such a result, particularly on the western or open end of the jump field. Here, from a variety of causes, the paratroops had failed to establish any substantial perimeter during the first five hours of their occupation. In fact, this section of the perimeter lacked strength or depth for at least another fifteen to twenty hours after the initial landing.