S. L. A. Marshall (1900–1977)

A pretty good history of the first stage in Operation Overlord. Marshall had been an infantryman in WWI in France, and had been commissioned from the ranks. Between the Wars he had been a military analyst, and a relative pioneer in the field. Recalled to duty in WWII, he was a keen proponent of after action reports as a service to historians and analists. This is his account of an operation that is heavily interested in his areas of command and control, and of increasing firepower in actual show more combat. It has been cited a good deal since its publication, by the current authorities in the field. It is worthy of a read. show less

Pork Chop Hill is an oral account of a month long rolling battle towards the end of the Korean War, a series of brutal night infantry engagements around hilly outposts. S.L.A. Marshall based his book on immediate oral histories, debriefing the survivors of entire companies right after events happened, and then reconstructing a timeline. What emerges is a scattered and desperate narrative. Men alone in the dark, grenades and automatic weapons going off all around them, unreliable lines back show more to lifesaving artillery batteries, sudden snapshot violence and trance-like states of total exhaustion. Marshall pushes his hobby horses here: That only about 1-in-5 soldiers directly takes action in combat, and that better training and small arms are vital to saving lives.

On the plus side, this is a very candid portrayal of warfare. These are inexperienced men in dangerous situations, and many men panic, freeze, and die, even as some exhibit extraordinary heroism. Dislike of the KATUSA's (Koreans's attached to US Army units is balanced by frank admiration for the Ethiopian contingent to the UN mission. While the people are real, there is barely any characterization beyond 'grenadier' or 'manned a Browning machine-gun', and the writing is as choppy and confusing as the battle itself. show less

This was a little dry, but the subject matter was interesting. Ended on a note which is still very applicable today as our country transitions from two wars - that we need to cultivate a civilian population that would be willing to defend our country or in a few years we will face the consequences. Definitely a worthwhile read.

A good psychological book about battle command, weak statistics

This book is a classic in military history — one of the most popular analyses of morale in the US WW2 soldier. Unfortunately some of the main statistics in the book (primarily that only 10-25% of soldiers fire their weapons in combat) were probably never true, and are definitely not true with current training systems, but the rest of the book’s insights about the psychology of both commanders and the commanded remain true.

It show more was interesting to me just how different WW2-style war is from the “low intensity conflict” I’ve seen up close — primarily in an urban environment, sustained for years, and without decisive force or the same kind of clear territorial objectives. While both kinds of war are terrible, I hope we never see total war of the WW2 style again.

Some of the insights from this book seem applicable to civilian leadership, but it probably isn’t a particularly good resource for that, being both very dated and kind of specific to a certain kind of challenge (even if it weren’t military). show less