by Eric M. Bergerud
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Product Description
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.
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.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 simply awesome!, 2008-01-06
This book and his companion "Fire In the Sky" are the best military history books I've ever read. Most history books concentrate on just recounting what happened where with whom but these books concentrate on the how and why. His analysis is great and goes far beyond a simple recounting of the history. I wish he would deal with all of the major campaigns of WW2 and Korea in this manner. I'd be first in line to buy those books if he did.
4 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
 A superb book with one very irritating flaw, 2007-02-17
If it were not for the one flaw mentioned in the title (and about which more below)this book would have received five stars.
Campaign histories are often impersonal narratives that fail to capture either the strategic importance of events or the personal experiences of the combatants. Those books which do capture the experiences of the combatants are often naive when it comes to strategy. Touched with Fire describes the war in the South Pacific on all levels, personal, tactical, logistic and strategic. It is well written, insightful and easy to read.
Bergerud makes the point that before the campaign in the South Pacific the Japanese were still on the offensive, even despite Midway. By the end of the campaign there was no doubt in any sane military man's mind that Japan would lose the war. Bergerud clearly explains why the Japanese decision to continue the war after their losses in the South Pacific was militarily insane, but also examines why unconditional victory over Japan was desirable and maybe even necessary (and how the same attitudes that made this so contributed to Japan's initial success and eventual failure).
For an American author Bergerud treats the combatants very open handedly, praising the Japanese and Australians for their strengths and not shying away from problems with the US military.
The fact that the author is an American leads me to the flaw in the book, something which might seem minor, but which was a constant source of irritation and grated so badly that it cost Bergerud two stars. The book is about events which happened entirely in the southern hemisphere. Therefore when I encountered references to events happening in summer of 1942 I asked myself, summer 1941/42 or summer 42/43? Luckily I knew enough about the dates involved to realise that it was neither. To my surprise and horror I realised that the author was referring to the northern hemisphere seasons when discussing events that happened in the southern hemisphere! The battles for Guadalcanal and the initial battles for New Guinea did not take place in summer, they were in winter (although traditional European seasons have little meaning in the tropics). I assume that the author knows that the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere. Therefore I can only conclude that he made a conscious decision to ignore this fact and to deliberately introduce errors into his work in order to make it more palateable to Americans. This betrays both a contempt for the intellect of his American readers and a contempt for his audience outside America. Neither is acceptable.
It is a shame that such a good book is flawed in this way. This may seem a minor point, but anything which betrays such monumental contempt for the reader has a major negative effect on the enjoyment of a book. It would not take much to correct the references to the seasons or simply replace them with dates if it's perceived that the concept of a round earth is too complex for the target audience (yes I'm being facetious). It would be good if this could be done in any future editions of this otherwise excellent book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A war of annihilation....., 2006-11-08
I purchased this book whilst living in the SE Asian tropics and it certainly provided a stark insight into the land battles of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands from mid-1942 until early 1944. Horrific. Australians interested in WW2 in this theatre should certainly pick up this book.
Anyone interested in the historical aspects of these WW2 battles will find the descriptions and weighing up of the armies, the weapons they employed and the horrors of the battlefield they suffered & fought in, to be utterly fascinating.
More so the interviews with surviving combatants are highly entertaining and this book serves as a worthy monument to their exploits in this green hell.
In particular this provides for an insight the brutality of the campaigns covered. The conditions endured by citizen and professional soldiers, and the combat most foul, they engaged in is graphically described. Yet all this takes place in a naturally beautiful environment....
The descriptions by veterans of hand-to-hand combat and degradation provides a stark view of some of the motivations and endurance of individuals under some of the most extreme combat conditions in WW2.
Thoroughly worth reading.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Allied Contributions, 2006-08-01
The contributions of the Australians and New Zealanders in the Pacific War are often understated. This book does much to mitigate that deficit.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Touched by Fire, 2006-07-15
I bought this book, and the companion book, Fire in the Sky by the same author. I bought them becasue my father spent from May 1942 until near the end of the war in the South Pacific. These books are NOT cronological history books, but rather an IN DEPTH discussion of why the US won and why the Japanese lost. Most of the book is taken up with quotes from the veterans who fought the war. Fire in the Sky had a few pages of quote from one of my Dad's friends from the 17th Weather Squadron.
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