The AEF and coalition warmaking, 1917-1918 /

A penetrating exposition and assessment of the role of American forces in France in WW I. Although the AEF is central to Trask's treatment, its leadership and operations are played out on the broader stage of Allied and German policy and action. This breadth of view affords a striking illumination of Marshal Foch, who presided over the often conflicting policies and interests of Haig, Petain, and Pershing. General Pershing's obdurate insistence on an independent American army is a central theme of the study and the subject of a fine critique. Trask's conclusion that "Pershing was surely a flawed commander" is only a little more restrained than Denis Winter's comment that Pershing was "a soldier of quite remarkable ineptitude" (Haig's Command: A Reassessment CH, Apr'92). Trask suggests that Pershing might have "fallen from grace" if the war had continued into 1919. This is a fine book and a major contribution to the field. It can be enjoyed by all devotees of WW I history and is a necessary tool for students and researchers who hope to understand this period. R. D. Ward; emeritus, Georgia Southern University