S.L.A. Marshall participant of World War I
Career
Service in WWI and career pre-1942
Marshall enlisted in the US Army on November 28, 1917, joining the 315th Engineer Battalion, part of the 90th Infantry Division. Based initially in Camp Travis, near San Antonio, Texas, his division transferred to France with the American Expeditionary Forces in June 1918 and Marshall was promoted to sergeant. The 315th took part in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensive. A 1921 record of the 315th Engineers from formation to the end of 1918 shows that during six weeks of active service, Marshall's company lost nine dead and fifteen wounded out of 165 men.Shortly after the Armistice, Marshall was selected to take the entrance examinations for the United States Military Academy, part of an initiative to promote exceptional soldiers from the ranks. He subsequently attended Officer Candidate School, was commissioned in early 1919, and remained in France to assist with post-war demobilization.After his discharge, he remained in the United States Army Reserve, and attended the Texas College of Mines, now the University of Texas at El Paso. In the early 1920s, he became a newspaper reporter and editor, first with the El Paso Herald, and later The Detroit News.  As a reporter, Marshall gained a national reputation for his coverage of Latin American and European military affairs, including the Spanish Civil War. In 1940, he published Blitzkrieg: Armies on Wheels, an analysis of the tactics developed by the Wehrmacht prior to World War II, and used during its invasion of Poland and Czechoslovakia.