S.L.A. Marshall Quotes

Brigadier General Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall, also known as SLAM, was a military journalist and historian. He served with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, before becoming a journalist, specialising in military affairs.

In 1940, he published Blitzkrieg: Armies on Wheels, an analysis of the tactics used by the Wehrmacht, and re-entered the U.S. Army as its chief combat historian during World War II and the Korean War. He officially retired in 1960 but acted as an unofficial advisor and historian during the Vietnam War. In total, Marshall wrote over 30 books, including Pork Chop Hill: The American Fighting Man in Action, later made into a film of the same name, as well as The Vietnam Primer, co-authored by Colonel David H. Hackworth.

His most famous publication is Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command, which claimed that fewer than 25% of men in combat actually fired their weapons at the enemy. While the data used to support this has been challenged, his conclusion that a significant number of soldiers do not fire their weapons in combat has been verified by multiple studies performed by other armies, going back to the 18th century and continuing into the 20th.Why this is so remains contested; Marshall argued that even with their own lives at risk, the resistance of the average individual “...toward killing a fellow man" was such that "he will not...take life if it is possible to turn away from that responsibility and at the vital point, he becomes a conscientious objector". Others argue so-called 'low fire' is a function of training and discipline, and is a positive attribute. These debates continue since understanding is crucial to overcoming them through training, as well as dealing with actual or potential combat-stress disorder. Wikipedia  

✵ 18. July 1900 – 17. December 1977
S.L.A. Marshall photo
S.L.A. Marshall: 13   quotes 0   likes

Famous S.L.A. Marshall Quotes

“We are reluctant to admit that essentially war is the business of killing, though that is the simplest truth in the book.”

Fire as the Cure. p. 67.
Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command (1947)

S.L.A. Marshall Quotes

“War must always start with imperfect instruments.”

The Illusion of Power. p. 20.
Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command (1947)

“The first effect of fire is to dissolve all appearances of order.”

The Multiples of Information. p. 90.
Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command (1947)

“The enemy, no more willing to be shot than was his opponent, was rarely seen, only fleetingly if at all.”

Introduction. p. 3.
Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command (1947)

“The first duty of the officer is to challenge whatever seems illusory.”

The Soldier's Load and the Mobility of a Nation (1950)

“Undue emphasis on conservation is as great a danger to fire power as is an excess expenditure of ammunition.”

Fire as the Cure. p. 81.
Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command (1947)

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