Touched With Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific

Media:	Paperback
Author:	Eric Bergerud
Publisher:	Penguin Books
Release date:	01 July, 1997
List price:	~~$16.00~~
Our price:	$10.88 that is 32% off!

Touched With Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific

Average rating: Stars

A different kind of military history

I previously believed that military history is primarily composed of the battles, the strategies used in the battles, & the leaders of the troops, with stories about individual soldiers mixed in to promote a better sense of understanding about the battle or war.

After reading Eric Bergerud's book Touched With Fire, I now must add another component to that definition of military history - the theatre in which the battle or war was fought. People think of the European Theatre in World War II, they think of the Pacific Theatre, and they think of the war in the North Atlantic. This book really expands on the geographical influence of the fighting in the south pacific, especially the islands of New Guinea & the Solomans.

Bergerud presents a compelling argument that the battles fought by soldiers, the tactics used by generals, and the way men lead their troops in battle is greatly affected, if not primarily driven by, the environment. Bergerud explains that the soldiers fighting in the South Pacific encountered a whole different war than those soldiers fighting in Europe, and not just because the enemy was Japanese rather than German or Italian. Bergerud maintains that the jungle was more of an enemy at times than the human opponent ever could have been. He also develops the theory that the jungle was one of the strongest allies that a fighting man could have, since it would shield him from the enemy or provide him with the necessary cover to launch a surprise attack, as the Japanese often did when fighting in the South Pacific.

Bergerud focuses primarily on the terrain and how it shaped the war in this book, although he does intermix (quite nicely, in fact), stories from the soldiers about their experiences and some, although limited, tactical information about the battles.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to understand why climate and geography play such a huge role in warfare. I would also highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to understand the tremendous differences in the land war in the South Pacific versus the land war in Europe or the Middle East. Overall, it is a very good book, and one well worthy of reading by any student of military history or just someone curious about the Pacific theatre in World War II.

Touched With Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific - Eric Bergerud

Interesting read

This is probably the best history I've read about fighting in that area. Bergerud says of General MacArthur that he was a "flawed personality but a magnificent general." Bergerud writes that he was always very careful with the lives of his men. MacArthur fought the U.S. Navy and powers in Washington who wanted to go slam -bang into every Jap base in the South Pacific and hang the cost in American lives.
MacArthur preferred to go right by them whenever possible and leave them marooned. When the war ended over 250,000 Japanese troops were sitting looking at the sky and ocean, armed to the teeth but with no one to fight. It is important to remember that much of the criticism of MacArthur came from those who told us Mao was an "agrarian reformer" and were also hopeful a defeated Japan would fall behind the Iron Curtain. MacArthur prevented that.

Eric Bergerud - Touched With Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific

A different way of writing military history

I have read many stories of World War II, but this one treats things differently. Instead of book with a story that starts at the beginning and ends at the end of the campaign, this book condenses the "story" into a single 38-page chapter.

The remaining almost 500 pages deal with different aspects of the entire campaign. It includes sections on the terrain (almost all jungle), the armies, the tactics, and many other features of the South Pacific war. There are many reminiscences from those who fought, and occasionally a story of a specific campaign.

What this does is give you a far better picture than most books of what it was like to be there. Instead of talking about the "harsh" jungle or the "relentless" Japanese, you get a huge detailed picture of exactly what it was like - the smell of the jungle, and the tactics the Japanese used.

Interspersed with this are Bergerud's comments on the effectiveness of how each company waged war, the strengths of the weapons, and how unprepared all sides were for the terrain.

I finished this book with a far deeper understanding of these battles, and I'd be interested to see this approach applied to other military history books.

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