History Main / DelayingAction

** Though with WestGermany's insistence on "forward defense", that their country be defended right up to the border with EastGermany it was really more like trading lives for NATO Army Groups to mobilize their corps and the mentioned REFORGER reinforcements to arrive.

* The 3rd Terran mission in ''StarCraft'' involves this, where you must hold off the Zerg until rescue arrives.

** Played with in the final Protoss mission in StarcraftII: Wings of Liberty. It takes place in the BadFuture, and defeat is unavoidable, you're simply trying to take as many Zerg with you. An optional objective plays it straight, in that other Protoss are trying to FlingALightIntoTheFuture, you need to hold out until they're done.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Hundreds of real-life examples, including:
** Part of the Battle of Gettysburg.
** Part of Dunkirk
** The battle of Thermopylae... which makes this one OlderThanFeudalism.
*** Twice at least. A second battle during WWII took place but it was a withdrawal instead of a sacrifice.
* This was a massive part of {{NATO}} plans for a WorldWarThree in Europe. The aim was to trade ground for time to allow US forces to arrive. One must feel sorry for the West Germans in all this...
** Though with WestGermany's insistence on "forward defense", that their country be defended right up to the border with EastGermany it was really more like trading lives for NATO Army Groups to mobilize their corps and the mentioned REFORGER reinforcements to arrive.
* A day or two before [[RememberTheAlamo the battle of the Alamo]], the commanding officer received a dispatch stating that reinforcements were on their way to him. Some historians now guess that the desperate defense of the fort there was not intended as a last stand, so much as a delaying action in hope that those reinforcements would arrive.

* Several times in ''WarcraftIII''. At least once you're stalling until the cavalry arrives. The climactic battle is you stalling until your trap is set.

* In the HonorHarrington novel ''In Enemy Hands'', the heavy cruiser that Honor is on (as flag officer) jumps into a system to discover that the Havenites have already taken it and destroyed the local forces. Honor orders her ship to distract the attention of the enemy and orders the convoy arriving behind her to jump back out. This done and the ship badly damaged, she orders the ship's captain to surrender the ship to the Peeps.
** In the earlier novel ''The Short Victorious War'', a large Manticoran fleet has been decoyed away from their home base at Hancock Station. A small task force left behind to protect the base has to delay the attacking Havenite fleet long enough to prevent them from either taking the station or retreating back over the hyper limit before the Manticoran fleet can return. Honor ends up [[YouAreInCommandNow in command of the task force]] durign the course of the battle.

* The Battle of the Line, in the BabylonFive prequel movie ''In The Beginning'':

<<|MilitaryAndWarfareTropes|>>

* ''Film/WingCommander'' has a single carrier being asked to hold off an entire [[CatPeople Kilrathi]] fleet for 2 hours, while the main Confederate fleet gets into position.

** Though with West Germany's insistence on "forward defense", that their country be defended right up to the border with East Germany it was really more like trading lives for NATO Army Groups to mobilize their corps and the mentioned REFORGER reinforcements to arrive.

* ''[=~300~=]'', recounting the Spartans at Thermopylae (see Real Life below).

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* The level "Revenge of the Empire" in ''RogueSquadron III: Rebel Strike''. Mirroring the Hoth example, Rogue Squadron is providing air cover to the evacuation of the base on Yavin IV.
[[/folder]]

* The 3rd Terran mission in ''StarCraft'' involves this, where you must hold off the Zerg until rescue arrives.

* In ''TheSilmarillion'', the Men of the House of Hador delay the forces of Angband long enough for Turgon's Gondolindrim to escape unfollowed. All but one of them die, and it only gets worse for the [[AndIMustScream survivor...]]

** The battle of Thermopylae... which makes this one OlderThanDirt.

* [[XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] did this in ''[[TheThrawnTrilogy Dark Force Rising]]'', trying to buy time for Luke and Han to get into their ships and let [[ividedWeFall Fey'lya]] escape with his force. Fortunately for them, Fey'lya was steered into an EngineeredPublicConfession and his people [[ChangedMyMindKid went back to help the Rogues]]. This wasn't enough. Karrde's smugglers showed up. This wasn't enough. Then [[BigDamnHeroes Bel Iblis showed up]]. [[HopeSpot This was enough]] until a second Star Destroyer appeared, and it took two counts of RammingAlwaysWorks before the day was saved.

* [[XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] did this in ''[[TheThrawnTrilogy Dark Force Rising]]'', trying to buy time for Luke and Han to get into their ships and let [[HangingSeparately Fey'lya]] escape with his force. Fortunately for them, Fey'lya was steered into an EngineeredPublicConfession and his people [[ChangedMyMindKid went back to help the Rogues]]. This wasn't enough. Karrde's smugglers showed up. This wasn't enough. Then [[BigDamnHeroes Bel Iblis showed up]]. [[HopeSpot This was enough]] until a second Star Destroyer appeared, and it took two counts of RammingAlwaysWorks before the day was saved.

* An episode of ''LieToMe'' features [[spoiler:a CIA agent who'd went over to the Taliban redeeming himself by delaying them long enough for Lightman and the others to escape a bunker.]]

* A day or two before the battle of the Alamo, the commanding officer received a dispatch stating that reinforcements were on their way to him. Some historians now guess that the desperate defense of the fort there was not intended as a last stand, so much as a delaying action in hope that those reinforcements would arrive.