المراجعة التحريرية | Having fought in the Battle of the Bulge and served a term as Historian for the 106th Association, I will say without reservation that this book covers the battle, units, and leadership personalities like no other I have read.--John Schaffner, Artillery Scout, 589th Field Artillery Battalion, 106th Infantry Division "Fontenot knows what armored combat involves because he has commanded heavy forces in battle. He explores not only the immediate geographic and material conditions that framed the tactical actions, but also the U.S. institutional expectations/doctrines that shaped the material and organizational capabilities, and later influenced immediate battle decisions. He judges commanders with an experienced commander's eye, emphasizes the importance of supply, particularly to sustained mechanized combat, discusses in some detail the importance of U.S. Army Field Artillery technique in balancing disadvantages of numbers on the firing line, and never forgets that at the critical point there was an enlisted soldier or company grade officer making the best he could of what he had been given under the unforgiving stress of combat."--Richard M. Swain, Colonel US Army, Ret., PhD. Professor, School of Advanced Military Studies and author of "Lucky War" Third Army in Desert Storm "Colonel Fontenot has drawn a significant body of materials together in an accessible format. His work is clear but detailed, and the narrative travels fast, without losing the breadth or import of the information conveyed. He has the knack of picking the important detail from the picayune, and he eyes the terrain with what is significant for the reader to understand while discarding the irrelevant background that clouds history written by those who have not lived it."--Roger Cirillo, Lieutenant Colonel US Army, Retired, US Army Command and General Staff College; former Book Director, Association of the US Army; author of Ardennes-Alsace: The U.S. Army Campaign of World War II "The humanity and intelligence that made Greg Fontenot a great soldier also make him a first-rate historian. Loss and Redemption at St. Vith is a magnificent chronicle of the 7th Armored Division's contribution to American victory in the Battle of the Bulge. It is, at once, a thoroughly informed tactical analysis of the Battle of St. Vith, an insightful study in command, and a thoughtful commentary on the relative capabilities of the American and German armies in late 1944. It should be closely read and deeply pondered by military historians and soldiers alike."--Harold R.Winton, U.S. Air Force Air University, author of Corps Commanders of the Bulge: Six American Generals and Victory in the Ardennes "Colonel Greg Fontenot's compelling account of the 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge provides wonderful insight into the hitherto unheralded but inspirational performance of the 'Lucky Seventh' and the units that fought alongside it. Fontenot combines the experience of a combat commander, the eye of a serious historian, and the understanding of a professional soldier in relaying this remarkable story and providing superb context. It is a truly exceptional read!"--General David Petraeus, U.S. Army, retired, former commander of the Surge in Iraq, Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and U.S. Central Command and former Director of the CIA |
عن المؤلف | For twenty-eight years, Colonel Gregory Fontenot served the United States Army in armor assignments in Iraq, Europe, Africa, and the United States. He commanded a tank battalion based at Fort Riley and Southwest Asia, and an armor brigade in Germany and Bosnia.
Colonel Fontenot served on plans and operations assignments at the Brigade, Division and major command levels. As an educator and trainer, he taught history at West Point and then served as Director of the School of Advanced Military Studies. He later commanded the Army's Battle Command Training Program.
Following his retirement from the Army in 1999, Fontenot focused on training and experimentation for the U.S. Army, first as a contractor working with Army Research Institute, Army Research Laboratory, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), the Defense Advanced Research Programs Activity, and other agencies. From July 2002 through July 2004 he served as Director of Wargaming. From July 2004 through June 2013 he served as Director of the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies with the Deputy Chief of Staff, an assignment that supported campaign plan assessments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Fontenot left civil service in June 2013 to focus on writing and to serve as a consultant on threat emulation for Army experimentation.
Colonel Fontenot was a member of the editorial board of Military Review from 2006-2013. Publications include articles in Army, Army History, The Infantry Journal and Military Review. Colonel Fontenot has written book reviews for Army, Armor, The Journal of Military History, Military Review, and Parameters. Colonel Fontenot authored a chapter in Martial Metropolis, edited by Roger Lotchin (Praeger, 1985) and served as lead author of On Point (CGSC Press, 2004).
Papers and presentations include: Annual seminar on the Balkans for the Marshall Foundation Marshall Awards Program (1997-2001), On Point: The US Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom presented at the 2004 Association of the United States Army authors symposium, presentations on Stability Operations in Urban Environments at TRADOC-Rand, Santa Monica Seminar 2000, McCormick Foundation, 2003, and JFCOM-IDF Joint Symposium 2006. Other papers include a presentation on Contemporary Military History in 2006 for the USMA Military History Symposium, "Mapping the Foreign" the American Literary Translation Association in 2008 and in 2015 "Dayton after Twenty Years" at the Watson Institute, Brown University. |