The American Army in Germany, 1918–1923: Success Against the Odds

By Dean A. Nowowiejski

University Press of Kansas, 2023

Reviewed by Peter L. Belmonte

The U.S. 1st Division Arrives in Treves, Germany

The occupation of the Rhineland by the allies and the United States Army after World War I is often an afterthought in the historiography of the Great War. In this fine book, historian Dean A. Nowowiejski examines the U.S. Army’s role in the occupation and evaluates its performance. Nowowiejski, the Ike Skelton Distinguished Chair for the Art of War at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, is well suited for this endeavor. 

The author begins by examining the movement into the Rhineland by the U.S. 3rd Army in November and December 1918. He concludes: 

In military terms, this was a complicated affair, notable for its success: a victorious army closely following a defeated force into enemy territory, over hilly and congested terrain, on a limited road network, in bad weather, across rivers, all the while occupying the area without major incidents with the civilian populace. (p. 25). 

Indeed, this quotation sets the tone for the rest of the work as Nowowiejski focuses on the problems faced by the 3rd Army and its successor, the American Forces in Germany (AFG), and how those units overcame them. When most of the 3rd Army went home by the summer of 1919, the AFG then consisted mostly of newer recruits. Nowowiejski outlines how AFG commander Major General Henry T. Allen purposefully set out to make the AFG the premier U.S. Army unit of the time. 

He did this, according to the author, by a careful selection of high ranking officers and a purposeful weeding out of undesirable soldiers. Nowowiejski also cites the various competitions, both athletic and military, that instilled pride and kept the men sharp. In particular, he cites the horse culture in the AFG. Despite the sunset of the use of horses in the U.S. Army, the AFG took pride in the appearance of its many horses, and officers studied equitation during their tours in Germany.

The author outlines the systematic annual training regimen devised for improving the AFG’s readiness. These cycles also had a dual purpose in demonstrating to the Germans that same readiness in the event the AFG had to resume military operations. As Nowowiejski states, “a respected army would give him [Allen] diplomatic leverage; his success in reforming the army and his subsequent diplomatic achievements proved this to be the correct approach” (p. 88). It was as a diplomat that Allen excelled, and the author spells out the challenges faced by Allen. Throughout the narrative, Nowowiejski acutely describes the confusing political and diplomatic atmosphere caused by the competing motives and goals of the occupying powers.

Allen, of course, was caught politically between the Germans and the French and Belgians; the British sided often with the Americans in the administration of the areas of occupation. In addition, he had to contend with American politicians who were navigating the course between active engagement in European affairs (and its concomitant expense) and relative isolationism (and its fiscal stringency). United States failure to ratify the Treaty of Versailles had repercussions that allowed Allen to play the part of honest broker. He often served to ameliorate or soften French demands for reparations and other stringent measures. As Nowowiejski states, “Allen stood for restraint and for the disinterested enforcement of the provisions of the Rhineland Agreement against French and German parochial interests.” (p. 236)

   

Nowowiejski concludes that the AFG was successful in their assigned role, and he attributes that success largely to Allen and the atmosphere he created in the AFG. The author also sees a missed opportunity in the American withdrawal in 1923. The result was an absence of American buffering presence and a missed opportunity for “stability and balance in European affairs…” (p. 237)

   

There are many interesting photographs of men and locales throughout The American Army in Germany, and the author has included an impressive bibliography that details the depth of his research. This is a well written, well documented study of an important part of U.S. military history. It should go along with Alexander Barnes’s fine study, In a Strange Land: The American Occupation of Germany, 1918-1923 (Schiffer Publishing Co., 2011) and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the history of military government as well as the history of American military forces during this era.

Peter L. Belmonte