Here we have to turn to fair and experienced people to make judgments. They will definitely agree with our arguments and defend us in front of readers. If we must say why the process of the battle must be like this, then it will definitely involve the tactical field of this issue too much. Here we only need to know the conclusion of this question, there is no need to study other things.
Although we said that most of the defeated commanders were aware of this unfavorable outcome before making the decision to abandon the battle, but we also admit that there are diametrically opposite situations, so as not to cause our arguments to be self-contradictory. If because the battle has shown a tendency to fail, it is determined that the battle must be defeated, then the commander will definitely not use his troops to restore the defeat, so he must retreat immediately after the failure trend of the battle appears. However, we have to admit that there is also such a situation: at first one party's failure trend has been set, but the result is that the other party failed. Although this kind of situation is rare, the commander who is unfavorable will always pin his hopes on this exception. As long as there is a chance to win, he will not immediately choose to retreat. As long as his courage and reason are combined, he always manages to turn defeat into victory by eating more hardship, using the remaining spiritual power, and by creating miracles or with the help of luck. We would like to add a few more words on this point, but before that, we must first explain what the signs of a balance of power change are. The results of each part of the battle constitute the result of the overall battle, and in each part of the battle, the signs of balance of power change are manifested in the following three aspects.
First, it is reflected in the emotional impact of the commander's inner world. If a teacher sees the fiasco of his various battalions with his own eyes, it will undoubtedly have an impact on his actions and reports, and his report will have an impact on the commander’s measures. Therefore, for some defeats, even If there is a way to remedy it, it will also have a very unfavorable effect, and eventually flood the commander's heart irresistibly.
Second, it is reflected in the consumption of our troops faster than the other. This kind of consumption is not difficult to estimate in a slow and orderly modern battle process.
Third, it is manifested in the loss of the region.
All this is like a compass, according to its commander you can tell the course of the battle ship. If you lose all your artillery, you have not captured the enemy’s artillery; if the enemy’s cavalry breaks down your infantry battalion, but the enemy’s infantry battalion is unbreakable; if the line of fire of your battle formation is forced to retreat from one location to another A location; if in order to occupy certain locations and lose power in vain, and the infantry battalion of the advancing army is just hit by the enemy's raindrops of grenade every time; if our firepower starts to weaken in the artillery battle; if it follows With the retreat of the wounded, a large number of uninjured soldiers also fled, causing the infantry on the line of fire to begin to decrease rapidly; if the war plan is destroyed, so that part of the army is blocked or captured; if the retreat begins to be threatened, etc. In all these circumstances, the commander-in-chief will certainly see the trend of this battle. The longer this development direction continues, the more obvious the trend, the more difficult it will be to recover from the defeat, and the moment when it is forced to abandon the battle is getting closer and closer. Let's talk about this moment now.
We have said more than once that the main basis for the final decision is often the comparison between the reserve teams left by the two sides. Whether the commander decides to retreat depends on whether the opponent has a decisive advantage in comparison with the reserve team. The characteristic of modern battles is that new forces can be used to remedy all misfortunes and losses in the battle, because the formation and deployment of modern battle formations enables the reserve team to be used anywhere, under any circumstances, and at any time. As long as there is an advantageous reserve team, a commander in chief who seems to be facing an unfavorable ending will not give up the battle. However, once his reserve team is weaker than the enemy's reserve team, the outcome is basically determined. As for what measures he will take, it depends not only on the specific circumstances at the time, but also on his courage and perseverance. Of course, this courage and perseverance may become irrational and stubborn. How the commander-in-chief correctly estimates the pros and cons of the reserve teams of both sides is a skill issue in practice, and it is by no means a problem to be discussed here. Here we only talk about the conclusion he reached after judgment. However, the time to draw a conclusion is not the time to decide to retreat, because a gradually formed conclusion is not enough to make the commander's decision to retreat. It is just a general basis for the commander's decision. To make a decision requires some special the elements of. There are two main types of these special factors: the danger of retreat and the arrival of night.
As the battle advances, if the retreat is threatened more and more, and the reserve team has been greatly consumed, and it is not enough to reopen the situation, then there is only resignation or orderly retreat. There is no other way. You can choose another way out. In this situation, prolonged delay is likely to cause him to fall into the danger of defeat or even destruction.
Usually the battle will end with the advent of night, because night fighting is advantageous only under special conditions. The night is more conducive to retreat than the day, so all armies that must retreat or may retreat will choose to use the night to retreat.
You can understand without explanation. In addition to these two common and main factors, there may be other factors that are more special and subtle, but must be paid attention to, because the closer they are in the battle. When the trend changes decisively, the results of each part of the battle will affect this change more. Therefore, the loss of an artillery position, the smooth entry of the enemy cavalry into the position, etc., can prompt the commander in realizing the emerging determination to retreat.
At the end of this topic, we will discuss the struggle between the courage and reason possessed by the commander.
On the one hand, the pride brought about by repeated victories, the strong will developed by innate stubbornness, and the tenacious spirit of resistance inspired by noble passion all require the commander-in-chief to keep his glorious name there instead of retreating from the battlefield; On the one hand, his sober reason is warning him not to exhaust his strength, not to make a desperate move, but to retain the necessary strength in order to retreat in an orderly manner. In war, although courage and tenacity should be given the highest evaluation, although most people who did not devote all their efforts to fight for victory will not win, but there must be a limit. If you exceed this limit and continue to work stubbornly, you can only be seen. Acting is a desperate struggle, an unwise action, and no judge is willing to forgive him. In the most famous battle of Waterloo, Napoleon exhausted his last troops in an attempt to redeem a battle that was hopeless. He took out the last capital, and finally fled the battlefield like a beggar and fled his homeland.
Main battle (continued)-the impact of victory
Due to different footholds, people may be surprised at the extraordinarily large effects obtained by some general battles, and they may also be surprised at the lack of any effects in other general battles. Now let’s talk about the impact of a big victory.
Here, we can easily distinguish the following three kinds of effects: first, the influence of victory on the commander and his army, that is, on the tools of war; second, the influence of victory on the participating countries; and third, in the course of future wars, The real role played by the above two influences.
On the battlefield, the difference between the casualties, the number of captured, and the loss of firepower between victors and losers is usually not obvious. If anyone sees only one aspect where this difference is not obvious, then anyone will feel incomprehensible about the consequences of this difference. But in fact, this is very natural.
We mentioned in the fourth section of Chapter 4 that one side’s victory is in a larger proportion and increases with the increase in the number of defeats of the other side. The outcome of a large-scale battle will have a great spiritual impact on the loser and the victor. This influence will cause greater loss of material power, and the loss of material power will have an impact on mental power. The two interact and grow with each other. Therefore, the spiritual influence should be paid special attention to by people. For the winner and the loser, this kind of spiritual influence has the opposite effect: for the loser, it can destroy all kinds of power; for the winner, it can strengthen all kinds of power and activities. However, it mainly affects the losers, because for the losers, it is the direct cause of new losses. In addition, this influence has the same nature as all the difficult factors in war, such as danger, fatigue, and hardship, so it is closely related to them and will be continuously increased by their influence. For the winner, all this can promote its courage to rise further. We realize why when we talk about the impact of victory, we mainly focus on the impact of the loser. This is because, relative to the initial horizontal line, the decline of the loser is much greater than the rise of the winner. If this influence is stronger in a large-scale battle than in a small-scale battle, then it must be much stronger in a main battle than in a subordinate battle. The independent main force in the battle should use the greatest effort to obtain the victory it deserves. It is the intention of the main battle to defeat the enemy at this place and at this moment of the main battle. It embodies all the war plans and all the methods of implementation, as well as all the distant visions and vague desires for the future.
To answer this bold question is a question of destiny. The spirit will inevitably become tense in this situation, not only the commander, but his entire army, including the most basic-level heavy soldiers. Of course, the lower the position, the smaller the degree of tension, and the smaller the impact will naturally be. Regardless of the age and the nature of the things engaged in, the main battle is always a large-scale military operation, and is by no means an unprepared and blind routine. This kind of action, in terms of its nature or the commander's intention, can increase the tension of all people more than ordinary combat activities. The more people pay attention to the outcome of the battle, the greater the impact of the outcome of the battle.
In modern battles, the spiritual impact of victory is much greater than in the early days of war history. Since the modern battle, as we have said before, is a real contest between the forces of the two sides, what really plays a decisive role should of course be the sum of material and spiritual forces, not individual measures, let alone accidental. the reason.
If a person makes a mistake, he can correct it next time. If he is lucky, he may get more benefits next time. However, the sum of spiritual power and material power is often not something that can be changed right away. Therefore, for the entire future, the changes brought about by a victory will have more important significance. Among all the people who participated in the battle, although only a few people considered this change, the process of the battle itself will make everyone participating in the battle feel this change. Although some far-fetched special circumstances can be used to conceal the truth of the battle, people still vaguely see that the overall situation determines the outcome of the battle, rather than individual special circumstances.
People who have never experienced the failure of a conference battle in person can hardly have a completely true feeling of failure. Therefore, it is never possible to construct a true concept of failure in a general battle from various abstract concepts of small failures. Now let us observe the scene of the failed general battle!
In a failed battle, the thing that can influence people's thinking, that is, human intelligence, is first the reduction of troops; then the loss of the area-this is an extremely common phenomenon, even if the attacker is not going well, the area will be lost. ; Next is the destruction of the formation, the chaos of part of the army or the danger of retreat--all these often appear, but the degree is different; the last is the retreat--this is usually carried out at night, and even continues throughout the night. Once the retreat begins, a large number of exhausted soldiers or soldiers who run away will have to be discarded by the army, and the discarded forces are often the bravest soldiers who have rushed the farthest, persisted the longest. Originally, the feeling of failure was only felt by high-ranking officers. By this time, it would affect officers at all levels, and even the most ordinary soldiers. Especially when they think of the terrifying scene when so many brave comrades who are truly admired by everyone fell into the hands of the enemy in this battle, they will feel more strongly of failure and frustration. At the same time, everyone will, to varying degrees, think that the mistake of the superior commander caused this failure, and therefore complain and distrust the superior commander, so that the feeling of failure becomes even stronger. This feeling of failure is not just imaginary, it proves that the enemy has taken advantage. The fact that the opponent has an advantage may initially be concealed by some reasons and is not easy to be discovered by people, but it will always be obvious when the battle is over. People may have known this fact for a long time, but in the absence of conclusive evidence, they must hope that accidents will occur, and they will inevitably believe in luck and opportunity, so that they will take bold risks. In the end, when everything proves to be of no avail, only the cold facts are left before people.
These situations are far from panic. The panic of a well-trained army is by no means the failure of the battle; and the panic of other armies is the result of the failure of the battle only in individual cases. However, the above-mentioned dull and lost situations may occur even in the best army. If we say that long-term rigorous exercise, the mentality of often winning, and the great trust in the commander-in-chief can sometimes suppress these situations, but this situation cannot be completely avoided in the initial stage of failure. It is not the loss of artillery or the loss of personnel that caused these situations, because the loss of artillery and personnel will usually only occur at a later stage, and everyone will not know it soon. Therefore, even if the balance of power changes extremely slowly and is gradually formed, this situation will occur. It is these situations that make victory have an impact on any occasion.
As mentioned earlier, the amount of loot can increase this effect. Under the above-mentioned circumstances, how powerful the army as a tool of war will be weakened! In such a weakened state, an army will find it difficult to cope with even the slightest difficulties in combat. Therefore, how can it be expected to make a new effort to regain the lost position! There is a real or imaginary state of balance between the two warring parties before the battle. When this state of balance is destroyed, if you want to restore it, you must rely on the help of external forces. If there is no such external force, then any new attempts will only lead to new failures.
Therefore, in this case, the slightest victory achieved by the main force will also tilt the balance to one side like a balance, unless new external conditions change it. If this new external condition does not exist, and the winner is a person who has a strong sense of honor and wants to pursue a greater goal, then if he wants to prevent his rising advantage from flooding, he must think Stop this torrent through small-scale resistance until the flood of victory disappears along a newly opened channel. The opponent must have a commander with outstanding talents and a well-tested and highly literate army.