This section, which has the clearest focus, concerns an assault on a strongly held ridge and its immediate aftermath. Malick stages this section of the film brilliantly, managing to make clear the complexities of the combat while simultaneously showing the chaos of its execution. His use of locations is particularly strong here. The hills the troops must climb are covered with shoulder-high grass, and Malick uses this and other topographical features to convey the terror of the unknown that troops must feel when assaulting an enemy position. You never know whether, in the next moment, the grass will part to reveal just more grass, or the enemy about to kill you.
Death strikes from afar, as unseen machine guns suddenly end lives.
Unfortunately, Malick still has more than half an hour's material after this sequence is completed. He ultimately has one more climax he wishes to show, but the dramatic timing used to transition from the aftermath of the attack to this sequence is stilted. The film seems like it's going to end several times, only to go on. Malick is also to be praised for his fairness in treating his characters. The most obvious instance is how the Japanese, initially little more than deadly ciphers, become extremely human and sympathetic on closer examination.