Winning a combat can lead to losing a war

The Allied forces’ invasion of Normandy was a successful landing operation, but they had to face a nightmare from the very next day. Having rearranged their battle lines, the Germans managed to stop the Allied forces from advancing further. In addition, though the Allied forces’ troops and equipment were of poor quality, Germany had an elite group of soldiers who were, in their own words, the world’s best in terms of experience and fighting strength. American Gen. George Patton led the Allied forces to a victory in the end, but the records reveal the Allied lines’ confusion and puzzlement for the two months leading up to the triumph. Then what would the records of the Germans show? Did they feel joyous and proud while conducting a successful defensive battle?

In fact, they did not. The memoir of Hans von Luck, the subordinate of German Gen. Erwin Rommel, portrays the same amount of confusion and despair as those of the Allied forces. Even though the Germans succeeded in pushing the opponents’ ground troops by pulling out all stops, they could not stop shells and bombs from falling from the skies. The skies were in complete control of the Allied forces. The Germans suffered great damages whenever they were spotted by the airborne divisions, and what was more terrifying was the bombardment from warships. Such bombardment was more powerful and fearsome than any other cannons launched from the ground, and not a single courageous unit could set foot into the range of the warships.

The reason the Germans were frustrated even after they effectively prevented the Allied forces from marching off was because their objective was to drive the Allied forces into the sea. Defeating enemies at the line of defense was meaningless when it comes to the purpose of a combat, because it was clear that the Germans could not progress into the beachhead of the Allied forces protected by bombardment. This is a case where you can win a combat but lose a war. Despite numerous small wins, you would not get a step closer to the objective. Similarly, severe conflicts and hatred would only increase the number of cases where we fight for the sake of fighting. Then the whole society will get further away from its desired path and sink deeper.