Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific [Paperback]

Eric M. Bergerud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1997

The horrors of this century's war in the South Pacific extended far beyond the detonation of atomic bombs. In this revelatory portrayal of the lives of the regular infantrymen who struggled to contain the Japanese advance, Bergerud presents a chilling and compelling record of the incredible hardships endured by these soldiers and the heroic efforts that resulted in the reversal of the course of the war. of photos. 8 maps.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The South Pacific campaign of World War II set new standards for savagery in modern warfare. The ground fighting reached a peak of intensity when the U.S. Marines landed at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands while the Australians repulsed the Japanese advance across New Guinea. Battling jungle rot and malaria, the Australian Army teamed with the U.S. against the Japanese, whose battle ethos demanded they fight until victory or extermination. In Touched by Fire, Eric Bergerud, a professor of military and American history at Lincoln University in San Francisco, restores the campaign to its rightful place of importance as a diabolical struggle for survival in World War II's most heartless terrain. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Turning his attention from the Vietnam War (Red Thunder, Tropical Lightning; The Dynamics of Defeat), Bergerud, who teaches military and American history at San Francisco's Lincoln University, focuses on ground combat in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands from mid-1942 until early 1944-a time when the South Pacific was the focal point of the land war between Japan and U.S. By synthesizing dozens of interviews with American and Australian participants into a strong analytical framework, he provides a definitive presentation of the dynamics of jungle war. Tactics, weapons, morale, medical services, human relationships in squads, platoons and companies-all are covered. The author's sources provide a vivid sense of what it was like to lead a patrol, to survive a firefight and to bury the dead. Bergerud is at his best discussing the strengths and weaknesses of American National Guard divisions that formed the backbone of the U.S. contribution to the South Pacific theater. At times, he seems too ready to take the Australians at their own, high evaluation of themselves-but he is hardly the first military historian to be seduced by the myths surrounding the Australian Imperial Forces. And if his discussion of the Japanese side doesn't match his treatment of the Allied forces, Meirion and Susie Harries's Soldiers of the Sun can be consulted for balance. Bergerud makes a major contribution here to our understanding not only of a specific campaign but of the nature of war itself. Maps.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140246967
• ISBN-13: 978-0140246964
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Coverage of Pacific Campaign in WWII!, August 3, 2000

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific (Paperback)

The superb account rendered so graphically in this book educates a new generation of readers as to the horrific practical realities involved in the Allied island-hopping strategy employed by the Allies in waging the Pacific campaign during World War Two. Indeed, while the specific individual battles often involved far fewer ground troops and were much smaller in scale than what occurred in the European theater of the war, the ferocity of the opposition and the relative number of casualties were staggering. Thus Eric Bergerud's gripping recounting of the incredible details involved with the war in the South Pacific in "Touched With Fire: The Land War In The South Pacific" reminds us of the terrible costs associated with that campaign.

This was truly a campaign requiring a total re-education of the American military involved. Starting with the disastrous lessons of the quite different realities of jungle warfare first experienced on Guadalcanal, the Allied command had to learn to adapt to the extremely tenacious, ingenious, and almost indefatigable efforts of the island's Japanese defenders, who could subsist on a little water and rice and move through the jungles with much great ease and skill than could we. No one was prepared for the sustained levels of ferocity with which the Japanese fought, usually to the death, over these small atolls that they had to recognize they could not hold onto forever. Yet they fought on.

The book recounts the many ways in which the war in the Pacific was different from that waged in Europe, and is organized around several themes such as terrain, climate, diseases such as dysentery, etc. in illustrating how the very different negative circumstances surrounding the island hopping strategy affected and constrained our ability (as well as those of the Japanese) to fight effectively in such an environment. Of course, as the author maintains, the Allies learned very quickly; they needed to in order to survive. As so well described in Ronald Spector's "Eagle Against The Sun", the Japanese were incredibly ingenious in devising ways to use topography, indigenous materials, and a willingness to "`rough-it" to build virtually impregnable walls of resistance to the oncoming invaders.

This is a very well written, passionately argued, and absolutely entertaining book to read. The author has done a remarkable job in documenting and substantiating his notions and theories, and I found myself surprised at how well some of his more provocative and controversial ideas are supported by the data he employs. This is an eminently worthwhile book, a wonderful addition to the growing library of titles exploring the realities of the war in the Pacific, and one I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the gritty details of the Allied `island to island' war against the Japanese. Enjoy!

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Splendid coverage with a few too many details for many., April 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific (Paperback)

Many people reading this review are well read concerning the European theatre and shockingly ignorant about the Pacific. I was also, until now. While Bergerud's style is not nearly as gripping as other recently popular authors on WWII his complete coverage of the savagery and confusion in the Solomons and New Guinea will grab even the hardest East Front grognard. The author gives extensive coverage of the armies, the weapons, and the brutal terrain that defined the war in the South Pacific. My only complaint about the work is its somewhat overly detailed description of the force structures and island geography that may distract the casual reader at times. Bergerud gives the Australian forces much deserved respect and completely immerses the reader in the horror that was Jungle warfare in WWII. His books about Vietnam have given him extra insight into the jungle warfare that is still so foreign to the American military. The book focuses completely on the South Pacific and does not cover the mid-Pacific campaign (Siapan, Guam, Iwo Jima, etc.) and this is also a strong point. I strongly recommend this book as an introduction to the land war in the Pacific in WWII. All European theatre fans should read it.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jungle hell, April 25, 2006

By 

isala "Isabel and Lars" (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific (Paperback)

The first jungle war was not Vietnam. It was in the hellish jungles of New Guinea and the Solomons. Apart from the well-known fighting at Gualdacanal, this camapign is quite unknown. Well, gruesome hand-to-hand combat between filthy, diseased, and starving footsoldiers is admittedly less romantic than steel aircraft carriers steaming in wast lotillas on a dark blue ocean, releasing deadly fighters into the sky.
It was here, though, in the, decidedly unromantic, jungles of New Guinea and the Solomons that the back of of the Japanese army was broken. Thus enabling the victories in the north pacific.
The author quite fairly describes the strenghts and weaknesses of the participating forces. It was not really inferior equipment, poor tactics, or poor soldiering that led to the Japanese defeat; it was faulty straegic planning and an unflexible doctrine.
I give a kudos to the author for giving the Australian and Commonwealth troops their due, and comparing them favourably even to the US marines!
One could say that the British Empire did serve a purpose here, since it meant that countries like Australia, India, New Zeeland, Fiji, etc., were already mobilised, and had, in some cases, gained valuable combat experience before the Japanese attack.
I think that the relative lack of maps and illustration makes the book a little bit difficult to follow sometimes, and the narrative, while excellent, suffers from the somewhat disjointed structure of the book.