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Delaying Action (view source)

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== Film ==
* ''[[300 (Film)|Three Hundred]]'', recounting the Spartans at Thermopylae (see Real Life below).
* The Battle of Hoth in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''. The Rebels knew there was no way they could actually win: the Empire had better equipment (including heavy armor for which the Rebels had no viable counter) and too much of a numerical advantage. The ground forces and Rogue Squadron simply hoped to delay the Imps long enough to evacuate the base. The battle was considered an Imperial victory overall, though the Rebels technically achieved their objective.
* ''[[Wing Commander (Filmfilm)|Wing Commander]]'' has a single carrier being asked to hold off an entire [[Cat People|Kilrathi]] fleet for 2 hours, while the main Confederate fleet gets into position.
 
 
== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Third World War (Literature)|The Third World War]]'', [[NATO]] successfully delays Soviet forces long enough for reinforcements to arrive, then launches a decisive strike and turns the Soviets back around Krefeld.
* In ''Red Phoenix'', North Korea invades South Korea. US and South Korean forces essentially have to fight one big delaying action until reinforcements can arrive from the US.
* [[X Wing Series|Rogue Squadron]] did this in ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy|Dark Force Rising]]'', trying to buy time for Luke and Han to get into their ships and let [[Divided We Fall|Fey'lya]] escape with his force. Fortunately for them, Fey'lya was steered into an [[Engineered Public Confession]] and his people [[Changed My Mind, Kid|went back to help the Rogues]]. This wasn't enough. Karrde's smugglers showed up. This wasn't enough. Then [[Big Damn Heroes|Bel Iblis showed up]]. [[Hope Spot|This was enough]] until a second Star Destroyer appeared, and it took two counts of [[Ramming Always Works]] before the day was saved.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In the final episode of ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' {{spoiler|The outlaws, who have seized Nottingham, try a gradual retreat to delay the Sheriff's forces until forces loyal to King Richard can arrive. It turns out they're not coming and a change of plan is needed}}.
* An episode of ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'' 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.}}
* The Battle of the Line, in the [[Babylon Five5]] prequel movie ''In The Beginning'':
{{quote| '''President of Earth:''' "We have continued to broadcast our surrender and a plea for mercy. And they have not responded. We therefore can only conclude... that we stand at the twilight of the Human race. In order to buy more time for our evacuation transports to leave Earth, we ask for the support of every ship capable of fighting to take part in a last defense of our homeworld. We will not lie to you. We do not believe that survival is a possibility. We believe that anyone who joins this battle... will never come home. But for every ten minutes we can delay the military advance several hundred civilians may have a chance to escape to neutral territory. Though Earth may fall, the Human race must have a chance to continue elsewhere. No greater sacrifice has ever been asked of a people than I ask you now... to step forward one last time... one last battle, to hold the line against the night. May God go with you all." }}
 
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