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Closing the Falais-Argentan Pocket and the Mortain counterattack 6-17 August 1944

A counterattack is a military tactic used by defending forces when under attack by an enemy force. During their assault, the attackers may have become vulnerable through exhaustion, complacency, or placing themselves in unfavorable conditions. At the right moment, the defenders aggressively charge out of their fortifications, meeting and stunning their attackers directly, and gain the initiative. This can break a siege or change the tide of a battle. However, if the wrong moment is chosen, or a counterattack is poorly executed, a military disaster could result for the defending side, since the defenders are no longer protected by their fortifications.

In the history of warfare, the counterattack has been both used effectively and ineffectively.

During the Sicilian expedition from 415 to 413 BC, the Athenians were about to be victorious. However, one Syracusan line held, and pressed the attack, scattering and defeating the invading forces of the Athenian Empire.

At the Battle of Hefei in 217 AD, a defending force of less than 1000 men, led by the Cao Wei officer, Zhang Liao, successfully defeated the invading Sun Wu army of around 80,000 troops through a daring ambush and counterattack which cut the enemy army in half.

Colonel Joshua Chamberlain commanded the Twentieth Maine Regiment on Little Round Top on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The elite Rebel troops of John Bell Hood charged, but Chamberlain refused his lines, and then ordered a right wheel across the hill, with the result of a large destruction of the Confederate lines.

At the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, German Panther tanks exhausted themselves against Soviet anti-tank artillery. As soon as the Germans ended their advance, Soviet T-34 tanks flooded down a nearby ridge, "like rats" according to General Heinz Guderian. The Wehrmacht was scattered in the battle, with much of their lines destroyed. The Germans would never again launch an assault of that scale against the Soviets, and were on the defensive against the Soviet Union from then on.

The consequence of the counterattack has been decisive throughout history. If the Athenians had won at Syracuse, the Greeks, not the Romans, might have dominated the ancient Mediterranean basin. Had the Soviets not won the Battle of Kursk, the Nazis would have dominated the Eastern Front for probably at least a year longer, delaying pressure on the Third Reich and most likely having a substantial effect on the war, if not its eventual outcome. Other decisive battles, as well, have been won or lost by counterattacks.

Look up counterattack in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Counterattack is the third book in the The Corps Series by W.E.B. Griffin
• In sport, the conterattack is the offensive after a defensive.