Men against fire : the problem of battle command in future war

by S. L. A. Marshall

Hardcover, 1947

Status

Available

Call number

UB210.M37 1966

Publication

Gloucester, Mass. : Peter Smith, 1978, c1947.

Description

S.L.A. "Slam" Marshall was a veteran of World War I and a combat historian during World War II. He startled the military and civilian world in 1947 by announcing that, in an average infantry company, no more than one in four soldiers actually fired their weapons while in contact with the enemy. His contention was based on interviews he conducted immediately after combat in both the European and Pacific theaters of World War II. To remedy the gunfire imbalance he proposed changes to infantry training designed to ensure that American soldiers in future wars brought more fire upon the enemy. His studies during the Korean War showed that the ratio of fire and more than doubled since World War II.

User reviews

LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
This book was an analysis of the behaviour of American soldiers under combat conditions. The third printing, the one I read, had been revised after the Korean conflict, as some of Brigadier Marshall's theories had been field tested since the original edition of 1947. The book is essential to the
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study of the military art in the twentieth century, and should be followed by a reading of Col. David Grossman's books "On Killing" and "On Combat".
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Language

Physical description

215 p.; 21 cm

ISBN

0844640573 / 9780844640570

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