The approach to the top required American troops to ascend the cliff face itself — not a path up a slope, but a vertical or near-vertical climb using cargo nets that had been rigged for the purpose. Three volunteers, including Doss, had helped hang those cargo nets before the assault. The decision to volunteer for that work is not something the 2016 film depicts, and it is worth noting: the man whose courage at the top of the escarpment became a Medal of Honor story also helped build the route by which the attacking force ascended.
The top of the escarpment offered no protection in the conventional tactical sense. The terrain was relatively flat, and both American and Japanese forces could bring fire to bear across it. Holding the top meant holding a position exposed to counterattack from multiple directions. The Japanese defensive tunnels allowed them to emerge in unexpected locations, so that a position appearing secure could suddenly have defenders in its rear.
American forces who took the top of the escarpment on April 29 held it through a series of actions over the following days. But the counterattack on approximately May 2, when the Japanese forces drove the company off the top, illustrated the problem with holding such a position: it could be taken, but taking it was only the beginning of the fight.
The men who descended the cliff face during the counterattack were not abandoning their position out of cowardice; they were withdrawing under tactical pressure in circumstances where remaining at the top, with limited ammunition and no immediate reinforcement, would have meant death without benefit. The wounds that left approximately 75 soldiers unable to move themselves were the consequence of a legitimate tactical crisis. What was unusual was that one man stayed.