Special Forces and the death of "conventional warfare"

For thousands of years, from the legions of ancient rome to the trenches of WWI, the idea of war consisted of two massive armies meeting head to head on a battlefield, fighting for a few days, then ultimately taking a break from fighting to refit and regroup. All of this was a generally accepted concept that was accepted worldwide. But as world war two came around, the technology of war blurred these front lines to the point of nonexistence. An example of this being naval combat during the war. In previous times, naval power was limited to transport, logistic support, and light attack. However, the Battleships and cruisers of world war two were capable of launching a high explosive shell the size of a volkswagen over a mile to its target. Advancements like this made naval power a decisive advantage in WWII. This is a concept that I found very interesting, the changing ideals of war. This led me to do some research on what might have caused it. In doing this, I found some interesting factors that could have contributed to this. One that many people do not think of is the first major usage of "commandos" in war. "Commando" was a term that referred to small, amphibious teams of soldiers that would conduct raids on military installations. This term was antiquated even during WWII. A commando leader in the british army, David Sterling, noticed that these amphibious raids were being stopped very quickly by the germans as they became more common. He sought to change the way that these raids were conducted. He pushed the chain of command for a trial of an experimental new force that would be comprised of hand selected members of the commando units. This new force would operate in teams of 3-6 men deep behind enemy lines. These small teams could be airborne or amphibious to deploy un detected and wreak havoc on enemy installations behind enemy lines through sabotage and guerrilla warfare. Dubbed the Special Air Service (the SAS) Sterling was approved to create his own division. His personally selected teams trained for the better part of a year in navigation, explosives, sabotage, parachuting skills, and linguistics so that they would be prepared for being behind enemy lines for weeks at a time on missions. This all payed off for the SAS as they scored heavy damage to the german and italian installations and supply lines. In all, the SAS destroyed 431 enemy planes, 2 german trains, 151 jeeps or other vehicles, 1 runway, and caused all sorts of other damage to factories, shipping equipment, and railroads. They also killed or wounded 7,733 enemy soldiers and captured around 23,000 others all while sustaining less than 350 casualties themselves. But this did not come without criticism. Traditionalist leaders on both sides condemned the SAS for their unconventional tactics. They felt that attacking both military and non military installations behind the front lines and in some cases, several hundred miles from the actual fighting was immoral and against the unwritten rules of war. However the results spoke for themselves, and the usage of special forces became commonplace in every war since then. The usage of special forces fundamentally changed the way that wars are fought.