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Thread: Heroic last stands

  1. #1
    Site Supporter JodyH's Avatar
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    Heroic last stands

    Spartans at Thermopylae 480BC
    Swiss Guard at the Vatican 1527
    Texans at the Alamo 1836
    French Foreign Legion at Cameron 1863

    Add to the list.
    "For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
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  2. #2
    Member Dropkick's Avatar
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    French Far East Expeditionary Corps, Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 1954

  3. #3
    Member Corlissimo's Avatar
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    Bastogne - 1944
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  4. #4
    Site Supporter Lon's Avatar
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    Rorke's Drift, especially the defense of the Hospital, 1879

    Defense of a supply train by a small detachment of the the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders on 4 July, 1901:

    Naboomspuit, 4th July 1901

    In March 1901 the 2nd Battalion went to Pietersburg with General Plumer where they operated in the surrounding district until the end of the war. On 4th July a party consisting of one officer, Lt Dunlop Best, and 22 men escorted a train that was attacked and derailed by de Villiers and 150 Boers. Dunlop Best and 9 others were killed, the rest wounded. In August that year De Villiers surrendered at Pretoria and spoke of the bravery of these Gordon Highlanders. Lord Kitchener sent a telegram to King Edward VII on the 10th Aug 1901:

    'As Colonel-in-Chief of the Gordon Highlanders your Majesty might be pleased to know that Commandant de Villiers, who was present and has just surrendered, informed me that at the attack on the train on 4th July at Naboomspruit the guard of Gordon Highlanders under Lieutenant Best, who was killed, behaved with utmost gallantry. After the train had been captured by 150 Boers, the last 4 men, though completely surrounded, and with no cover, continued to fire until 3 were killed and the fourth wounded. On the Boers asking the survivor the reason why they had not surrendered, he replied, "Why, man, we are the Gordon Highlanders." '

    The King replied on 12th Aug:

    'Very pleased to hear of the bravery of the Gordon Highlanders. Proud to be their Colonel-in-Chief.'
    Formerly known as xpd54.
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  5. #5
    Site Supporter JodyH's Avatar
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    Custer at Little Big Horn (heroic last stand and greatest military blunder all rolled into one).

    Some mentioned to me that I had never thought of as "heroic last stands", but fit the definition are the Japanese at Iwo Jima, Tarawa and other Pacific islands during WW2. They fought to the last man in a bid to protect their homeland.
    "For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
    -- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --

  6. #6
    Four String Fumbler Joe in PNG's Avatar
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    Some navy stuff:
    The Battle off Samar- 13 destroyers, destroyer escorts, and baby flattops chasing off the Japanese heavier ships .

    The Battle of the Falkland Islands (WW I)

  7. #7
    Site Supporter Lon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JodyH View Post
    Some mentioned to me that I had never thought of as "heroic last stands", but fit the definition are the Japanese at Iwo Jima, Tarawa and other Pacific islands during WW2. They fought to the last man in a bid to protect their homeland.
    I was thinking the same thing about Stalingrad.
    Formerly known as xpd54.
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  8. #8
    Member NETim's Avatar
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    In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

  9. #9
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    The Saxons at Hastings, 1066.

    Hernán Cortés, La Noche Triste, Mexico, 1520.

  10. #10
    Dot Driver Kyle Reese's Avatar
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    Siege of Brest, 1941

    Sevastopol, 1941

    Stalingrad, 1943

    Korsun - Cherkassy Pocket, 1944

    Chosin, 1950

    I guess you could say that all of the battles in the Soviet-German War of 1941-1945 could be considered "last stands", since both sides frowned on surrender, and becoming a "guest" of either the Third Reich or the USSR was a de facto death sentence in many cases.
    Last edited by Kyle Reese; 10-07-2012 at 09:44 PM.

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