History Main / HoldTheLine

* During the 1527 Sack of UsefulNotes/{{Rome}}, the Swiss Guard held off the invading Holy Roman Empire long enough for UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope Clement VII]] to escape to safety at the Castle Sant Angelo.

* ''Fanfic/AvengersOfTheMultiverse'': In the climactic battle of ''Night of the Beyond'', Titan and Max take on [[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Dagon]] to keep said EldritchAbomination's attention away from the rest of the heroes, half of whom are fighting the multi-series VillainTeamUp, the other half of whom are trying to reach the machine used to recreate Dagon. Predictably, they lose the fight, but Dagon's supreme arrogance prevents him from noticing Ben-as-Upgrade taking control of the machines that can absorb his essence and draining him once more.

* The evacuation from Dunkirk. Recognizing that their situation was untenable, but to ensure that the British could live to fight another day, the French forces covered the evacuations until much (though sadly not all) of the BEF were safely off the continent. Once they were, the French were evacuated as well, forming the core of what would become the Free French forces.

* During the 1527 Sack of Rome, the Swiss Guard held off the invading Holy Roman Empire long enough for the Pope to escape the city.

-->"Gentlemen, all is lost. I do not think that the Canadians can come to our rescue. We have only about 110 able-bodied men left. Five shells per gun and 50 bullets per man. That's very little, but fight all the same. Surrender to the S.S. is futile; you know that. I thank you. You have fought well. Good luck, gentlemen. Tonight we shall die for Poland and for civilization! . . . each tank will fight independently, and eventually each man for himself."

* Most of what UsefulNotes/{{Ukrain|e}}ian forces do against UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invaders on the front of Eastern Ukraine since fall 2022 minus their failed spring-summer 2023 counter-offensive.

This is commonly used in RealTimeStrategy games, where success requires a balance between creating defensive structures and units to protect one's objective, and scouting out and eliminating enemy bases to reduce their number. It also crops up in FirstPersonShooter games, where you often get to use mounted turrets sporting [[BottomlessMagazines limitless ammo]] but [[{{Overheating}} poor heat management]]).

* ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'' and ''VideoGame/VermintideII'' both have levels with points where the heroes have to hold off waves of attackers within a confined space, such as "Engines of War" in the first game, where the goal is to survive until a getaway ship arrives, and "Convocation of Decay" in the second, where they stomp through RitualMagic site until they cause a MagicMisfire.