diff --git a/apps/showcase/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/showcase/servlet/TestServlet.java b/apps/showcase/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/showcase/servlet/TestServlet.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f754bd3a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/showcase/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/showcase/servlet/TestServlet.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * $Id$
+ *
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.struts2.showcase.servlet;
+
+import javax.servlet.ServletException;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class TestServlet extends HttpServlet {
+    @Override
+    public void service(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException, ServletException {
+        switch (request.getPathInfo()) {
+            case "/forward":
+                getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/dispatcher/dispatch.action").forward(request, response);
+                break;
+            default:
+                response.sendError(404);
+                break;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/struts.xml b/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/struts.xml
index cb47af8bf..6354a3657 100644
--- a/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/struts.xml
+++ b/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/struts.xml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
     <constant name="struts.serve.static" value="true" />
     <constant name="struts.serve.static.browserCache" value="false" />
 
-    <constant name="struts.action.excludePattern" value=".*/images/.*\.gif,.*/img/.*\.gif,.*/styles/.*\.css,.*/js/.*\.js"/>
+    <constant name="struts.action.excludePattern" value=".*/images/.*\.gif,.*/img/.*\.gif,.*/styles/.*\.css,.*/js/.*\.js,/testServlet/.*"/>
 
     <include file="struts-interactive.xml" />
 
diff --git a/apps/showcase/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml b/apps/showcase/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
index 1bcfa4184..001641b7d 100644
--- a/apps/showcase/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
+++ b/apps/showcase/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
@@ -142,6 +142,11 @@
         <load-on-startup>4</load-on-startup>
     </servlet>
 
+    <servlet>
+        <servlet-name>testServlet</servlet-name>
+        <servlet-class>org.apache.struts2.showcase.servlet.TestServlet</servlet-class>
+    </servlet>
+
     <servlet-mapping>
         <servlet-name>dwr</servlet-name>
         <url-pattern>/dwr/*</url-pattern>
@@ -162,6 +167,11 @@
         <url-pattern>/async/receiveNewMessages</url-pattern>
     </servlet-mapping>
 
+    <servlet-mapping>
+        <servlet-name>testServlet</servlet-name>
+        <url-pattern>/testServlet/*</url-pattern>
+    </servlet-mapping>
+
     <!-- END SNIPPET: dwr -->
 
     <!-- SNIPPET START: example.velocity.filter.chain
diff --git a/apps/showcase/src/test/java/it/org/apache/struts2/showcase/DispatcherResultTest.java b/apps/showcase/src/test/java/it/org/apache/struts2/showcase/DispatcherResultTest.java
index 3819e27ab..5907efdb4 100644
--- a/apps/showcase/src/test/java/it/org/apache/struts2/showcase/DispatcherResultTest.java
+++ b/apps/showcase/src/test/java/it/org/apache/struts2/showcase/DispatcherResultTest.java
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ public class DispatcherResultTest {
             final HtmlPage page = webClient.getPage(ParameterUtils.getBaseUrl() + "/dispatcher/dispatch.action");
 
             DomElement div = page.getElementById("dispatcher-result");
-
             Assert.assertEquals("This page is a result of \"dispatching\" to it from an action", div.asNormalizedText());
         }
     }
@@ -40,7 +39,6 @@ public class DispatcherResultTest {
     @Test
     public void testDispatchingToAction() throws Exception {
         try (final WebClient webClient = new WebClient()) {
-            webClient.getOptions().setThrowExceptionOnFailingStatusCode(false);
             final HtmlPage page = webClient.getPage(ParameterUtils.getBaseUrl() + "/dispatcher/forward.action");
 
             DomElement div = page.getElementById("dispatcher-result");
diff --git a/apps/showcase/src/test/java/it/org/apache/struts2/showcase/ForwardTest.java b/apps/showcase/src/test/java/it/org/apache/struts2/showcase/ForwardTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b466010fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/showcase/src/test/java/it/org/apache/struts2/showcase/ForwardTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * $Id$
+ *
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package it.org.apache.struts2.showcase;
+
+import com.gargoylesoftware.htmlunit.WebClient;
+import com.gargoylesoftware.htmlunit.html.DomElement;
+import com.gargoylesoftware.htmlunit.html.HtmlPage;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class ForwardTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testServletForwardingToAction() throws Exception {
+        try (final WebClient webClient = new WebClient()) {
+            // Struts excluded URL, as defined by struts.action.excludePattern
+            final HtmlPage page = webClient.getPage(ParameterUtils.getBaseUrl() + "/testServlet/forward");
+
+            DomElement div = page.getElementById("dispatcher-result");
+            Assert.assertEquals("This page is a result of \"dispatching\" to it from an action", div.asNormalizedText());
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/dispatcher/servlet/StrutsServlet.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/dispatcher/servlet/StrutsServlet.java
index 02132fc93..f11ea5071 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/dispatcher/servlet/StrutsServlet.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/dispatcher/servlet/StrutsServlet.java
@@ -19,11 +19,10 @@
 package org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.servlet;
 
 import org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.Dispatcher;
-import org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.mapper.ActionMapping;
 import org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ExecuteOperations;
 import org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.InitOperations;
 import org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.PrepareOperations;
-import org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.servlet.ServletHostConfig;
+import org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.mapper.ActionMapping;
 
 import javax.servlet.ServletConfig;
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;