---
product_id: 12204863
title: "Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific"
brand: "eric m. bergerud"
price: "VT11469"
currency: VUV
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/12204863-touched-with-fire-the-land-war-in-the-south-pacific
store_origin: VU
region: Vanuatu
---

# Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific

**Brand:** eric m. bergerud
**Price:** VT11469
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific by eric m. bergerud
- **How much does it cost?** VT11469 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/12204863-touched-with-fire-the-land-war-in-the-south-pacific)

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## Description

Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific

## Images

![Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51P1HxrSeqL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Excellent seller
  

*by A***R on Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2023*

Super book and I was happy to find! Excellent shipping !

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Superb Coverage of Pacific Campaign in WWII!
  

*by B***K on Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2000*

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!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Touched With Fire is a masterly and detailed work, focusing like a laser on the land crucible of the Pacific war
  

*by K***R on Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2016*

This book is what I consider a "Universal Problem Solver" for its subject, which is how land forces fought World War II in the South Pacific.The battles for Guadalcanal, New Guinea, and the Solomons have justly passed into legend in the United States and Australia (and New Zealand to a smaller extent) as a turning point of World War II. They were among the harshest battlefield settings of a war that was noted for ghastly scenes of battle -- thick, disease-infested jungles where large bodies of armed men could easily get lost and run into headhunting cannibals.A Japanese general died in a river flood. Hordes of Japanese troops were felled by the deadly combination of the miserable terrain and their inability to supply their men with food and medicine. On Guadalcanal, the American Marines were abandoned soon after they landed, and had to survive on captured Japanese rations for weeks -- even putting the lone Japanese bulldozer to work to finish Henderson Field. The dozer's operator slept by the vehicle with his rifle -- nobody was allowed near him or it.The book is divided into sections: how the battles were fought, the social roots and technological tools of the combatants, how they operated tactically, and how the men thought, felt, and endured their battles. Everything from medical care to machine-guns are covered, with interesting notes about how US Marines created fake Japanese "war flags" to sell to gullible US Sailors that they believed had let them down.A good chunk of the book is how the cultures of the various armies affected how they fought the South Pacific War, which was critical. One point that Professor Bergerud makes is that the US Army had become obsessed with and mastered large-scale logistics -- if Hitler asked American generals to prepare a plan for the invasion of Russia, the answer would have been mind-numbing but critical essays on high-viscosity motor oil and anti-freeze instead of crackling Prussian Generalstab arrows on a map, leading to Leningrad and Moscow. The Americans understood that an army had to be supplied to win.Touched With Fire is a masterly and detailed work, focusing like a laser on the land crucible of the Pacific war. This will tell you nearly everything you will want or need to know about that war, who fought it, how, and why. Highly recommended.

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*Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu*
*Store origin: VU*
*Last updated: 2026-03-15*