America's School for War: Fort Leavenworth, Officer Education, and Victory in World War II (Modern War Studies) Review

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America's School for War: Fort Leavenworth, Officer Education, and Victory in World War II (Modern War Studies) ReviewI was very pleased to see my copy of Dr. Schifferle's work arrive. First, I note that the author has outstanding credentials for this topic. Here, the biographical information is understated for the general reader, but speaks volumes for people who know anything about the School of Advanced Military Studies. Clearly, Dr. Schifferle is an accomplished historian and an expert in his field. Second, I appreciate both the bibliography and footnotes; I used both to gain insight into the scope and depth of the author's research. For example, I surveyed the sources that he used for the discussion on doctrinal development in the 1920's and found that material to be very interesting, to include the origins of the FM 100-5 manuals most professionals are so familiar with. Third, the text is well written prose with excellent analytical structure and substantive support for his arguments. In essense, I learned a lot about the Army as a "learning institution" in the inter-war years, showing the intellectual growth of officer corps as a whole (as opposed to the "intellectual leaders" that we so frequently read about). This book gave me a deeper appreciation for the relationships between experience (i.e. WWI), a flowering intellectual discourse (i.e. in professional journals), experimentation leading to new theory, resulting in new doctrine disseminated through the school system, and subsequently adjusted by new experience (i.e. WWII). This book clearly demonstrates the value of professional military education, illustrating many important concepts and innovations that reached fruition in WWII.America's School for War: Fort Leavenworth, Officer Education, and Victory in World War II (Modern War Studies) OverviewWhen the United States entered World War II, it took more than industrial might to transform its tiny army--smaller than even Portugal's--into an overseas fighting force of more than eight and a half million. Peter Schifferle contends that the determination of American army officers to be prepared for the next big war was an essential component in America's ultimate triumph over its adversaries. Crucial to that preparation were the army schools at Fort Leavenworth.Interwar Army officers, haunted by the bloodshed of World War I's Meuse-Argonne Offensive, fully expected to return to Europe to conclude the "unfinished business" of that conflict, and they prepared well. Schifferle examines for the first time precisely how they accomplished this through a close and illuminating look at the students, faculty, curriculum, and essential methods of instruction at Fort Leavenworth. He describes how the interwar officer corps there translated the experiences of World War I into effective doctrine, engaged in intellectual debate on professional issues, conducted experiments to determine the viability of new concepts, and used military professional education courses to substitute for the experience of commanding properly organized and resourced units.Schifferle highlights essential elements of war preparation that only the Fort Leavenworth education could provide, including intensive instruction in general staff procedures, hands-on experience with the principles and techniques of combined arms, and the handling of large division-sized formations in combat. This readied army officers for an emerging new era of global warfare and enabled them to develop the leadership decision making they would need to be successful on the battlefield. But Schifferle offers more than a recitation of curriculum development through the skillful interweaving of personal stories about both school experiences and combat operations, collectively recounting the human and professional development of the officer corps from 1918 to 1945. Well crafted and insightful, Schifferle's meticulously researched study shows how and why the Fort Leavenworth experience was instrumental in producing that impressive contingent of military officers who led the U.S. Army to final victory in World War II. By the end of the book, the attentive reader will also fully comprehend why the military professionals at Fort Leavenworth have come to think of it as the "Intellectual Center of the Army."This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.

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Doniphan's Epic March: The 1st Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican War (Modern War Studies) Review

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Doniphan's Epic March: The 1st Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican War (Modern War Studies) ReviewDr. Joseph Dawson's new book is an outstanding study of perhaps the most grueling and longest campaign in American military history. Following in-hand with Dr. Roger Lanius' superb recent biography of the Mexican War's quintessential citizen-soldier, Alexander William Doniphan, colonel of the 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteer Regiment, this is a regimental history well-done and well-told. Dawson's strong military back-ground, meticulous research, and smooth and vibrant writing style brings color and passion to a great military venture. The reader is carried away in the struggle, the dust and grime of the march, but it never loses the focus of the winds of Manifest Destiny and the tidal-wave of national expansion. Glory and gore fill the pages as Doniphan, the most unlikely hero of the war, leads his rag-tag, motley command of Missourians hundreds of miles deep into Mexican territory, winning two major battles on the way. His ability to paint the difficulty and drudgery of the march, the courage and sacrifice of the men, and the unfolding national events in Washington and Mexico City are all woven into the fabric of splendid prose. The only area that may be considered a shortcoming is the last chapter that spends so much time and ink on the sectional crisis over slavery. Here, the flow loses some focus from the previously straight and direct narrative of the war and Doniphan's march. Joseph Dawson succeeded is telling the story of a great but little known military operation that is rivaled only by Alexander and Napoleon's feats.Doniphan's Epic March: The 1st Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican War (Modern War Studies) Overview

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A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign (Modern War Studies) Review

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A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign (Modern War Studies) ReviewTimothy Johnson's "A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign" gives a detailed history and analysis of one of the most remarkable campaign's in American military history: when General Winfield Scott's tiny army landed on the coast of Mexico in 1847 and then fought its way across hundreds of miles of hostile territory to capture the enemy capital and end the Mexican War. Scott's army included numerous junior officers who less than two decades later would win fame as generals in the American Civil War, including both Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. Scott had to overcome not only the Mexican Army but also tepid cooperation from his own government and obstacles thrown up by some of his subordinate commanders. But in the end he achieved a nearly unparalleled victory, albeit one largely forgotten today, its place in American history overshadowed by the events of the Civil War a decade and a half later. In an epilogue, Johnson discusses the influence of Scott's Mexico City campaign on leaders and operations of the Civil War, citing a number of examples that paralleled Scott's methods and goals. Astoundingly, no fewer than 135 veterans of Scott's small army later served as generals during the Civil War, including such famous names as Grant, Lee, Jackson, McClellan, Hooker, Meade, and Longstreet.
Johnson draws upon official reports, memoirs, and numerous contemporary letters and journals -- mostly American, but some Mexican as well -- to build a strong analytical narrarive illuminated by vivid detail.
I am giving this work only four stars instead of five because of the maps. Johnson himself in the introduction states "Maps are crucial to the reader of military history" but the maps in this volume are too small and quite poorly reproduced. (I photocopied the much clearer maps in John Eisenhower's "So Far From God: The U.S. War With Mexico 1846-1848" for use as a reference when reading Johnson's otherwise exemplary book.) Photographs of various battle sites are even more wretchedly reproduced.A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign (Modern War Studies) OverviewIn 1847 General Winfield Scott boldly led a small but undaunted army from the Mexican coast all the way to the Halls of Montezuma, routing Mexican forces at every turn while pacifying the countryside. Scott's military campaign--America's first ever in a foreign country--helped pave the way for victory in the wider war against Mexico and also posed new challenges for discipline, logistics, and the treatment of civilians. Yet it has remained largely neglected by historians.In this first book-length study of Scott's brilliant six-month campaign, Timothy Johnson shows how Scott overcame such obstacles as inadequate supplies, intense officer rivalries, and lack of support from President Polk--not to mention a country full of potentially hostile Mexicans--to keep his army intact deep in enemy territory and win the war. He interweaves a compelling narrative of the campaign-including detailed battle replays, terrain descriptions, and eyewitness accounts--with a comprehensive analysis of strategy, operations, and tactics. Along the way, he also provides considerable insight into Scott's efforts to fight a "limited war" by combining military force with diplomatic negotiation and by implementing a pacification plan that now seems far ahead of its time.Scott developed a sophisticated strategy of moderation to end the war by employing a sword-and-olive-branch approach. Although his army repeatedly won battles against superior numbers as it drove ever deeper into Mexico's interior, Scott paused after each contest to give the enemy an opportunity to sue for peace. And by respecting civilian property and purchasing supplies from the populace, his troops limited local support for guerrillas that threatened communication lines. Meanwhile on the battlefield, Scott successfully executed surprise flank attacks at Cerro Gordo and Padierna, tactical masterpieces that inspired a generation of Civil War generals--like Grant, Lee, McClellan, and countless others.Providing the definitive work on the Mexico City campaign, A Gallant Little Army highlights the visionary command of a legendary general, the flinty toughness of the troops he led, and the emergence of the United States as a potential global military power.This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.

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