Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South PacificA brilliant history of the land battles in the Pacific theater of World War II, with stirring personal accounts of the horrifying struggle between the Japanese and Allied forces. The horrors of WWII 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, Eric Bergerud has given us a compelling and chilling record of the incredible hardships endured by these soldiers, and the heroic efforts that resulted in the reversal of the course of the war. Bergerud spent hundreds of hours interviewing the last surviving veterans of this remarkable campaign, and he has placed their personal experiences at the center of his analysis of military strategy. “Aspires to do for the ground war in the South Pacific what Keegan achieved in Six Armies in Normandy.”—Los Angeles Times |
Contents
The Strategic Magnet | 1 |
The War Against the Land | 55 |
The Armies | 119 |
Copyright | |
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1st Marine 1st Marine Division 25th Division 32d Division aircraft Allied anese artillery assault attack base battalion battle battlefield beach bomb Bougainville bullet Buna campaign casualties close coast combat commander Corps defense enemy fighting fire fleet fought foxhole front Georgia going grenade ground Guadalcanal Guard Guinea guys Henderson island Japa Japan Japanese Japanese Army Japanese position Japanese soldiers jungle killed knew Kokoda Trail land large numbers MacArthur machine guns malaria Marine Division miles military Milne Bay mortar move naval Navy nese never night officers operations Owen Stanleys Pacific war Papua patrol Pearl Harbor perimeter platoon Port Moresby Rabaul rear regiment rifle Salamaua shell shot small number snipers Solomons South Pacific South Seas Detachment squad supply tactical tanks target terrain theater things tion Tokyo took trees troops U.S. Army units veterans weapons World World War II wounded yards