List of last stands

That can take the form of a rearguard action, holding a defensible location, or simply refusing to give up a position.

"[29] The Germans launched a full frontal offensive on Osowiec Fortress at the beginning of July; the attack included 14 battalions of infantry, one battalion of sappers, 24–30 heavy siege guns, and 30 batteries of artillery equipped with poison gases led by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg.

The Germans waited until 4 a.m. on 6 August for favorable wind conditions, when the attack opened with regular artillery bombardment combined with chlorine gas.

The Soviet group attempted several counterattacks, including one resulting in the defeat of the Wehrmacht garrison in Adzhimushkay on the night of 8 and 9 July 1942.

The German forces surrounded the quarries with barbed wire fencing, blocked the entrances and exits and bombed and shelled them.

General Hermann Ochsner [de], the chief of the chemical forces, proposed the use of a non-lethal irritant gas to smoke the partisans out of such hiding places, but he was denied permission to carry out the attack[36] although survivors' testimonies claimed otherwise.

[37][38][39] Polish Resistance Royal Navy By the time HMS Jervis Bay had been sunk the merchant ships had all but scattered; however, the Admiral Scheer did manage to locate a small number of merchant ships, including the SS Beaverford, which, despite the very unequal matchup (The SS Beaverford having one 4-inch gun and one 3-inch gun, whilst the Admiral Scheer had six 11-inch guns alone), managed to further delay the attacking vessel for 4 hours in a cat-and-mouse game, using its speed and the smoke produced to allow the convoy to escape.

Admiral Tovey, who commanded the engagement, said that "The Bismarck had put up a most gallant fight against impossible odds worthy of the old days of the Imperial German Navy, and she went down with her colours flying.