Ed Helms

Uh.

That was the recon.

Easy in, easy out.

Instead, they ran aground on a steep, jagged mess of volcanic rock and boulders up to 16 feet high.

The landing stalled instantly as men scrambled to unload gear and climb over terrain that looked nothing like the brochure.

So it's safe to say confidence and morale is maybe starting to teeter a little bit.

Now, there was one upside to the botched landings, which was that no one was shooting at them

which they expected.

So the Japanese guns on the island were silent as the commandos struggled ashore, soaked and exhausted.

But that calm did not last.

As Frederick's men pushed inland through bogs and rocky ridges, the larger landing ships unloaded wave after wave of infantry behind them.

And here's where a series of tragedies starts unfolding.

First, that illusion fog.

It rolled in and just swallowed everything.

Entire units disappeared in the gray.

Radios failed.

And no one knew who was where.

Then American and Canadian troops spotted movement in the mist and opened fire, convinced they'd found the enemy.

But they had not.

When the smoke cleared, a dozen soldiers were dead.