Background
Marschall was born in Augsburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, in 1886.
Marschall was born in Augsburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, in 1886.
In 1916 he was educated as a U-boat commander and captained both University of California-74 and UB-105 by war"s education
In 1906 he entered the Kaiserliche Marine as a Seekadett. During World War I he served as a watch officer on Kronprinz Wilhelm. While in the Reichsmarine, Marschall served primarily as a Vermessungsoffizier (surveying officer) and in different staff positions.
At the end of 1934 he became commander of the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer.
As a Konteradmiral in 1936, he joined the Naval High Command and headed the operations division. During the Spanish Civil War Marschall commanded the German naval forces off of the Spanish coast.
He was promoted to Admiral and Flottenchef (fleet commander) in 1939. Admiral Marschall, flying his flag in battleship Gneisenau, led the German naval force which intercepted and sank the British auxiliary cruiser Rawalpindi on 23 November 1939, while on patrol off Faroe Islands.
In a two-hour action, Glorious and her accompanying destroyers were all sunk, in exchange for damage to Scharnhorst (struck by one of Acasta"s torpedoes).
Although the battle was a German victory, Marschall had engaged Glorious despite orders to avoid action. Marschall"s differences with the High Command on this subject, and the severe damage to Scharnhorst during the engagement, ensured that Marschall was replaced as Flottenchef by Admiral Günther Lütjens. Marschall led the inspection of naval education for two years beginning in the summer 1940.
In 1942 Marschall was named commanding admiral of occupied France and replaced Alfred Saalwächter as commander of Marinegruppenkommando West.
On 1 February 1943 he was promoted to Generaladmiral, but was replaced as western commander by Theodor Krancke and deactivated later that spring. During the remainder of the war, Marschall was reactivated twice, once as Sonderbevollmächtigter (special agent) for the Danube, and once as commander of the Marineoberkommando West shortly before war"s education
From 1945-1947 he was held as a prisoner of war. Marschall died in Mölln, West Germany, in 1976.