Chapter 10, Into the Abyss Summary and Analysis

Chapter 10 details combat events transpiring May 1 through 4, 1945; in many respects it is like Chapter 4. K/3/5 heads south through vast stockpiles of materiel and tent cities. The company moves forward into the active combat zone and comes under constant heavy fire. Sledge is afraid but feels it differently—as a veteran, he knows what to expect. This does not eliminate his fear, but does make it different in the experience. The mortar platoons dig in—Sledge finds the Okinawa clay much more suitable for digging than was the Peleliu coral. Word comes back quickly that Howard Nease has been killed—the men take the news particularly hard. Okinawa was Nease's third campaign, and many marines hold a deep superstition about surviving a third campaign.

The mortarmen begin to haze Mac, urging him to...