Last stand

Last stand is a loose military term used to describe a body of troops holding a defensive position in the face of overwhelming odds where the majority of soldiers are killed. The defensive force usually takes very heavy casualties or is completely destroyed, while also inflicting high casualties on the opponent as happened at the Battle of Little Big Horn, popularly known as "Custer's Last Stand". Sometimes the term is used to describe the last pitched battle of a war where the position of the defending force is hopeless but the defending force considers it their duty not to surrender until forced to do so, as happened to the last Royalist field army of the English Civil War at the Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold.^[1]

A last stand is a last resort tactic, and is chosen because the defending force realizes the benefits of fighting outweigh the benefits of retreat or surrender. This usually arises from strategic or moral considerations, leading defenders to conclude that their sacrifice is essential to the greater success of their campaign or cause, as happened at the end of the Battle of Thermopylae.

The situation can arise in several ways. One situation is that retreat by the defending force would lead to immediate defeat, usually due to the surrounding geography or shortage of supplies or support, as happened to the Royalist infantry on Wadborough Hill after the Battle of Naseby.^[2][3]

Some times rather than face annihilation at the hands of a pursuing victorious army a rearguard will be tasked by the commander of the defeated army with hindering the advance of the victorious army. Even if the rearguard is destroyed in a last stand, its sacrifice may buy their commander time to disengage without losing the majority of his army as happened during the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940.^[4]

A siege may lead to a last stand by the defenders. Last stands at the end of sieges were more common in the past than they are today because of the wording in the Hague Conventions. Before the 20th century, if a besieged garrison refused any offered terms of surrender and the attackers subsequently breached the defenses, the defenders were only given quarter at the discretion of the attackers, something they were not likely to do if they perceived that by holding out, with no hope of relief, the defenders had needlessly squandered lives. Under the laws of war as they are now "...it is especially forbidden - ... To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion; [and] To declare that no quarter will be given ...",^[5] it is unlawful for an attacking force to kill a garrison if they attempt to surrender even if it is during the final assault on a fortified position.

Bryan Perrett suggests that although the majority of last stands throughout history have seen the defending force overwhelmed, on rare occasions the outnumbered defenders succeed in their desperate endeavours and live to fight another day, and he lists Rorke's Drift as one such stand.^[6]

See also

• Suicide attack
• Forlorn hope

References