Summer 2018 Edition

July 2018

In this Summer 2018 issue of Army History, we bring you two impressive pieces covering Army battles during World War I in France and World War II in North Africa.

In the first article, author Christopher Rein examines the Allied defeat by German forces at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in February 1943. The author asserts that while historians have placed most of the blame for the loss on Maj. Gen. Lloyd R. Fredendall, the commander of the II Corps, other factors contributed to the corps’ lackluster performance at Kasserine. These included poor working relationships with superiors and subordinates, personal biases of fellow commanders, and the excessive cannibalization of Fredendall’s assigned forces.

The second article, from Jonathan D. Bratten, discusses one of the lesser-known battles of World War I that proved to be a turning point for U.S. forces against their battle-hardened German adversaries. The author argues that the doughboys succeeded at the Battle of Xivray in June 1918 because they quickly incorporated lessons learned just months earlier from their French allies and their German foes. Bratten writes that principles still in use by the Army today contributed to defeating a superior force of experienced enemy troops.

In his Chief’s Corner, Mr. Charles Bowery describes the contributions of the Center of Military History’s directorates in chronicling Army history events of the twenty-first century.

Mr. Jon Hoffman, in his Chief Historian’s Footnote, discusses a recent review of the Army Publishing Directorate and the resulting efforts to make more efficient use of Army resources by operating more like a commercial publisher.

This issue also contains an Army Artifact Spotlight with the story behind a ceremonial sword presented to Capt. Benjamin Stone Roberts for his gallantry while commanding a sacrificial raiding party during the Mexican-American War in 1847. In addition, this issue contains eight excellent book reviews, a look at the “Army Theater” under construction at the National Museum of the United States Army, and a farewell to a former member of the CMH team who passed away on 14 April 2018.

As always, article submissions are encouraged, as are self-nominations for book reviews. The list of currently available review titles can be found on the CMH Web site (https://history.army.mil/ armyhistory/books.html).

Bryan J. Hockensmith
Managing Editor