Rusty Balls | 28 May 2017 7:10 p.m. PST |
I have been reading "How Can Men Die Better" on Isandlawana. As a military man myself who never saw combat, I can help but be inspired by the stand that the 24th and many of their allies made that fateful day. While I am sure they we're confident in their skills and the Martini Henry, at some point they came to realize they were not to see another sun rise. Yet, they fought like lions in the finest tradition of British Soldiers to the last charge by Younghusband and his desperate band. This last stand above all others in my mind, displays the most heroic and noble soldierly qualities. Looking at pictures of the officers and men that fell that day makes me admire their courage and bravery in the face of all odds. In honor of Memorial Day here in the US, what heroic stand, last or otherwise, inspires your admiration? The Alamo? The Prussian Guard at Kolin? The Little Big Horn? Pickets charge? Others? I have been trying to figure out why Isandlawana feels so vivid to me? Maybe the fact that we have pictures of the men? The available accounts? The fact that they were doomed from the start yet never gave in? The defiance? In your favorite stand, what is it about it that speaks to you so? God Bless Our Veterans! |
21eRegt | 28 May 2017 7:32 p.m. PST |
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Nashville | 28 May 2017 7:57 p.m. PST |
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KimRYoung | 28 May 2017 7:59 p.m. PST |
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forwardmarchstudios | 28 May 2017 8:03 p.m. PST |
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KimRYoung | 28 May 2017 8:04 p.m. PST |
Nashville, good list One missed on it is The Wagon Box Fight, 1867 Wyoming Kim |
Levi the Ox | 28 May 2017 8:06 p.m. PST |
Taffy 3 at the Battle off Samar. |
Irish Marine | 28 May 2017 8:10 p.m. PST |
US Marines at Wake Island. |
Atomic Floozy | 28 May 2017 8:46 p.m. PST |
Hill 488. There were framed descriptions of MoH actions that hung in a mess hall at Pendelton. The audacious idea of Marines laughing and throwing rocks at the enemy when they were low on ammo has stuck with me through the years and has often reminded me not to give up when things are tough. |
goragrad | 28 May 2017 9:12 p.m. PST |
HX-84. First the Jervis Bey and then SS Beaverford. An AMC versus a 'pocket battleship' is as unequal as any of the other stands and for a merchant ship armed with 1 3-inch and 1 4-inch guns to delay that same pocket battleship for over 4 hours was epic. |
LostPict | 28 May 2017 9:27 p.m. PST |
Taffy 3 – unimaginable heroism. The Last Stand of the Tincan Sailors tells the tale: link |
Lascaris | 28 May 2017 9:39 p.m. PST |
+1 for wake island. The only amphibious assault driven off in WW2, |
Warmaster Horus | 28 May 2017 10:03 p.m. PST |
The Battle of Yonkers, WWZ |
piper909 | 28 May 2017 10:21 p.m. PST |
The Alamo, Thermopylae, Camerone, Little Bighorn, Teutoburg Forest, St. Jacob-en-Birs, the fall of Carthage, the fall of Constantinople, the 20th Legion at the Thirtieth Milestone (see "Eagle in the Snow," by Wallace Breem). |
bgbboogie | 28 May 2017 10:35 p.m. PST |
The Gloucestershire's at Imijin river in Korea cover the retreat. The first British unit to get a unit citation from the US Governement. |
Allen57 | 28 May 2017 10:54 p.m. PST |
To me the term "last stand" denotes one side essentially being wiped out. Thus many of the valiant defenses noted in these posts do not seem to me to be last stands. Thermopylae, Carrhae, Isandlawana, Camerone, The Alamo, and Little Big Horn are my favorites. |
Cacique Caribe | 28 May 2017 10:55 p.m. PST |
The fall of Alamut … because they had it coming. The admiration goes to the ones who finally acted and stamped them out of existence. Dan |
Yellow Admiral | 29 May 2017 12:07 a.m. PST |
No favorite last stands (in fact, I find last stands distateful), but I feel compelled to make an honorable mention of the last fight of the Revenge (Drake's old galleon) in 1591. - Ix |
grecian1959 | 29 May 2017 1:26 a.m. PST |
French 14th Ligne Regiment at Eylau |
David Manley | 29 May 2017 2:06 a.m. PST |
Glowworm vs. Hipper, 1940 |
Ottoathome | 29 May 2017 2:12 a.m. PST |
The Roy Rodgers Restaurant on Route 81 just after you cross into Virginia. |
HairiYetie | 29 May 2017 2:29 a.m. PST |
Maltese and Knights Hospitallers at Fort St Elmo vs Ottoman Turks. Great Siege of Malta, 1565. Epic. Fanatics both sides. No quarter given or expected. The corpses of the Knights were beheaded and floated tied to crosses across the harbour to the other forts. The Grand Master chopped off the heads of a bunch of Turk prisoners and shot them from cannon over to the Ottoman camp. High spirit of competition on both sides. |
Supercilius Maximus | 29 May 2017 2:39 a.m. PST |
Not a "last stand" in the strict sense of the term, but the exemplary behaviour of the troops (mostly recruits) aboard HMS Birkenhead when it sank off the coast of South Africa in 1852, led the Kaiser to order that an account of their performance be read out to every unit in the Prussian army as an example of devotion to duty. The event led to the introduction of the "women and children first" rule on all British ships. At the risk of being pedantic, I think 21eRegt meant Camerone, not Cameroon. |
welly1815 | 29 May 2017 2:40 a.m. PST |
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Pictors Studio | 29 May 2017 3:15 a.m. PST |
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Huscarle | 29 May 2017 3:21 a.m. PST |
Harold's huscarles at Senlac. Constantine XI Palaiologos at the fall of Constantinople. The Spartans & Thespians at Thermopylae |
GarrisonMiniatures | 29 May 2017 3:28 a.m. PST |
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Sobieski | 29 May 2017 4:09 a.m. PST |
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4D Jones | 29 May 2017 4:36 a.m. PST |
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Cardinal Ximenez | 29 May 2017 4:36 a.m. PST |
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basileus66 | 29 May 2017 4:37 a.m. PST |
Fort Sant'Elmo, Malta 1565. The whole garrison was massacred in the end. But its epic defence had a real impact in the outcome of the siege. The Ottomans wasted so much time and so many powder and men trying to capture what was little more than an underfortified outpost that the Christian reinforcements were able to disembark on the island and force the retreat of the Ottomans. Whithout the heroic defence of Sant'Elmo Malta would have fallen. |
GreenLeader | 29 May 2017 5:20 a.m. PST |
Great topic, Rusty Balls, and I join you in raising a glass to those brave veterans. I tend to agree with Allen57 in that a 'last stand' implies that the side doing the 'standing' were wiped out, but am not interested in splitting hairs. Anyway, I will throw Wilson's last stand / the Shangani Patrol into the mix – truly epic stuff and their heroism led the Matabele (no strangers to outrageous valour themselves) to describe them as 'men of men'. When one galloper who made it back to the main column was asked why none of Wilson's men tried to break out before they were cut off, he replied simply: "They were not the sort of men to leave their mates behind" |
Frederick | 29 May 2017 5:23 a.m. PST |
Great examples – Camerone stands out for me |
deadhead | 29 May 2017 5:35 a.m. PST |
Really interesting thought. There is the Last Stand where you have no choice. These guys do not take prisoners and there is no escape, so surrounded by Zulus, Santa Anna's lads, Sioux, or even modern day Middle East are good examples. There is however also the situation where you could pack in and hope to survive, but instead fight on. Camerone… Finally I like Wake Island+2. Little known over here and had never thought that it is indeed the only example I can think of, in WWII, of a (initially, anyway) failed amphibious invasion. Dieppe was a raid, no intention to stay and some units did get ashore and succeed in their mission |
Stosstruppen | 29 May 2017 7:38 a.m. PST |
For me I have found the following inspirational; Thermopylae Alamo Arnhem Camerone Rourke's Drift That book the OP mentions is on my short list along with that authors book on the Drift. I would probably add Isandlawana had a read a more detailed account. |
CorroPredo | 29 May 2017 9:43 a.m. PST |
The Alamo, with a special tribute to the 30 men from Gonzales who rode in knowing the fort was going to fall. |
Legbiter | 29 May 2017 10:06 a.m. PST |
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jurgenation | 29 May 2017 11:31 a.m. PST |
Gandamak..first Afghan war. |
piper909 | 29 May 2017 11:56 a.m. PST |
The tale of the 47 Loyal Ronin is not exactly a "last stand," but I admire its similarities, a gallant band of soldiers knowingly going to their deaths to avenge their lord and sense of honor/duty. |
Andoreth | 29 May 2017 2:23 p.m. PST |
The Fetterman disaster. As they had it in Charles Chiltern's "Blood on the Prairie": "You've killed us all Captain Fetterman, ,you've killed us all." |
Parzival | 29 May 2017 3:33 p.m. PST |
It seems to me that an action may well count as a "last stand" if the soldiers involved believed that it likely would be, as Rorke's Drift. They didn't lose, nor were they slaughtered, but I doubt very much the men there laid good odds on their own survival at the time! The bravery is not lessened by the outcome, either way. |
14Bore | 29 May 2017 3:44 p.m. PST |
Isandlwana is another. Wake Island but had they known they could have taken out more Japanese. |
KSmyth | 29 May 2017 4:06 p.m. PST |
Taffy 3 in the Battle off Samar, even though they sort of won. Camerone. |
Brian Smaller | 29 May 2017 8:18 p.m. PST |
Isandlwana – because there are enough first hand accounts of the action from the Zulu side documented to know exactly how it played out. Younghusband and his company shaking hands then charging into the Zulu ranks to their deaths. Sends shivers down my spine. |
Old Contemptibles | 29 May 2017 11:23 p.m. PST |
Isn't the very definition of a last stand is when all the defenders die? Like at Camarón, Alamo and Isandlawana. Pickets charge was not a last stand. The Rebels were attacking and at least 50% of the Rebs survived. Taffy three not even close to a last stand. It should have been but it wasn't. But I would think the Russian Fleet at Tsushima might qualify. If you include all dead or were capture then Stalingrad might qualify. Sinking of the Bismarck? Depends on your definition of last stand. I can't explain it but I know it when I see it. |
Fat Wally | 29 May 2017 11:23 p.m. PST |
Has to be Isandlwana. The stuff of nightmares. Complete respect for the fighting men of both sides in that one. |
Old Contemptibles | 29 May 2017 11:30 p.m. PST |
Are the Japanese in WWII the kings of last stands? How do you not include them? They fought for many of those Islands to virtually the last man. |
Old Contemptibles | 29 May 2017 11:33 p.m. PST |
My favorites are the Alamo and Camarón. |
nsolomon99 | 29 May 2017 11:47 p.m. PST |
Lots of amazing examples of sheer mad courage listed above, I would add a couple of extra ones from the Napoleonic Wars: - The stand of a single company of the French 51st Ligne at Fuente Ovejuna on September 7th, 1810 - The stand of 2 battalions of the French 84th Ligne in the town of Graz on June 25th 1809 |
Haitiansoldier | 30 May 2017 10:00 a.m. PST |
I also own How Can Man Die Better. Great book. But to answer your question, Little Bighorn is my all time favourite last stand. The Alamo and Isandlwana come not far behind. |