Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Doctrine, dogma, and development in the AEF; 2. The 1st division: training for and waging trench warfare; 3. The 1st division: the search for a 'sufficiently powerful fire'; 4. The 26th 'Yankee' division: doctrine, discipline, and discrimination; 5. The 26th 'Yankee' division: doctrine, demoralization, and disintegration; 6. The 2nd division: bloody lessons in 'open warfare'; 7. The 2nd division: the rise of set-piece battle; 8. The 77th 'Liberty' division: training for the trenches and fighting on the Vesle; 9. The 77th 'Liberty' division: dogma, delegation, and discretion; 10. Conclusions; References; Index.

Promotional Information

This 2007 book provides the most comprehensive examination of American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) combat doctrine and methods ever published.

About the Author

Major Mark E. Grotelueschen is an active duty officer in the United States Air Force and an Assistant Professor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He is the author of Doctrine Under Trial: American Artillery Employment in World War I (2001). He holds degrees from the United States Air Force Academy (BS with Academic Distinction, 1991), the University of Calgary (MA, 1998), and Texas A&M University (PhD, 2003).

Reviews

"Mark Grotelueschen has written one of the most important works on the AEF, and indeed on the history of the modern US Army, to appear in the last twenty years." -Dennis Showalter, Professor of History, Colorado College "I find this to be an invaluable work..." -Douglas V. Johnson, The Journal of Military History "The book dutifullly raises the age-old question of how an army must go about evaluating and validating its doctrine." -Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II, Parameters "This is a compelling and important book. [Grotelueschen's] research is deep, his writing is lucid and presentation sound, and his main points are intriguing and relevant..." -William Thomas Allison, Reviews in American History "Grotelueschen's book goes beyond the well known stories of Belleau Wood and the Argonne Forest to describe how the AEF adapted to combact in France...With the final veterans of the "Great War" passing away, Grotelueschen provides a distinguished critique of their battlefield success. His book is a must for anyone interested in World War I and the development of US Army doctrine." -Maj. Jeffrey P. Joyce, Air Power History "Grotlueschen does an excellent job of describing the problems that soldiers in this conflict had to face." -Stephen A. Bourque, H-War