Army History Magazine
Summer 2024 Edition
September 2024
In this Summer 2024 issue of Army History, I am pleased to offer two excellent articles, a look at an extremely rare Army artifact, a visit to the Okinawa Prefectural Archives, and our usual crop of quality book reviews.
The first article, by Mark Smith, examines military bridging in the Eastern Theater during the American Civil War. The many contributions of regular engineer officers in building these bridges kept the U.S. Army on the march. These soldiers employed an array of different equipment and methods to keep troops and materiel moving across the many rivers that often stood in the way of their advance. The author provides a brief history of military bridging and then examines a number of these operations and puts them into the context of the larger plans and battles they supported.
The second article, by William Donnelly, looks at the writing of South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu, by Roy E. Appleman, and the controversy surrounding the book. Published by the Office of the Chief of Military History in 1961 in the Army’s official Korean War series, it was, for many years, considered the definitive account of the first five months of that conflict. Only later, after a concerted effort by a number of veterans from that period—many from the 24th Infantry Regiment, the only African American regiment in Korea—would Appleman’s work be reexamined. Donnelly has mined numerous primary sources, official Army documents, and Appleman’s own papers to compile the story behind the writing of this book. In doing so, he exposed the many biases that existed at all levels of Army leadership at the time.
The Artifact Spotlight in this issue highlights one of only three surviving examples of the Mark VIII tank. A joint British and American venture to produce a heavy tank in great numbers near the end of World War I ran into numerous issues and delays, with the first prototype not being delivered until 11 November 1918. The Mark VIII pictured in this issue was produced in 1920 and is currently housed at the Armor and Cavalry Training Support Facility at Fort Moore, Georgia.
For something a little different in this issue, we take a visit to the Okinawa Prefectural Archives in the town of Haebaru on the main island of Okinawa. Our senior editor Shannon Granville recently visited this archive during a yearlong stay in Japan on a fellowship program. While there, she was able to examine the wealth of U.S. Army records held by Okinawa Prefecture, with most dating from the years after World War II while the island was under U.S. military and civil governance.
Army History is still seeking submissions for content related to the American Revolution as next year will start the 250th commemorations. Any questions or submissions should be sent to the journal’s email address at usarmy.mcnair.cmh.mbx.army-history@army.mil. Those wishing to submit articles should review the instructions located in the Call for Submissions box located in most every issue of this journal and should adhere to our style guide: https://history.army.mil/about/docs/CMH_Style_Guide_2023.pdf.
Once again, I take this opportunity to thank our readers for their continued support and encouragement as we strive to provide you with quality issues.
Bryan J. Hockensmith
Managing Editor