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A forlorn hope is a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the
vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...
in a military operation, such as a suicidal assault through the
kill zone In military tactics, the kill zone, also known as killing zone, is an area entirely covered by direct and effective fire, an element of ambush within which an approaching enemy force is trapped and destroyed. The objective of the ambush force i ...
of a defended position, or the first men to climb a
scaling ladder {{Unreferenced, date=May 2007 Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare, ...
against a defended fortification, where the risk of casualties is high. Such a band is also known as the ().


Etymology

The term comes from the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
, literally 'lost heap'. The term was used in military contexts to denote a troop formation. The Dutch word (in its sense of 'heap' in English) is not
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
with English 'hope': this is an example of
folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...
. The translation of as "forlorn hope" is "a quaint misunderstanding" using the nearest-sounding English words. This folk etymology has been strengthened by the fact that in Dutch, the word is a
homograph A homograph (from the el, ὁμός, ''homós'', "same" and γράφω, ''gráphō'', "write") is a word that shares the same written form as another word but has a different meaning. However, some dictionaries insist that the words must also ...
meaning "hope" as well as "heap", although the two senses have different etymologies.


History

In the German
mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
armies of the , these troops were called the , which has the same meaning as the Dutch term, the word ''
Haufen {{italic title A ''Heerhaufen'', also ''Haufen'' or ''Haufe'', was the name given to unorganised or poorly organised paramilitary troops and auxiliaries in Central Europe during the Early Modern Period. The term is German and is sometimes transla ...
'' itself being a general term for a company of . These men carried long double-handed swords, with which they had to hew their way through the massive pike formations opposing them. Alternatively, a small force of could be used as "bait", to draw forward enemy formations and so expose them to the main force of ''Landsknecht'' behind. They also had to withstand the first wave of attacks when defending a breastwork. Members of the earned double pay, thus giving them the name of ''
Doppelsöldner ("double-mercenaries", "double-pay men", from German ''doppel-'' meaning double, ''Sold'' meaning pay) were ''Landsknechte'' in 16th-century Germany who volunteered to fight in the front line, taking on extra risk, in exchange for double payment. ...
'' ('Double-wagers'). Since there were not enough volunteers for this assignment, criminals who had been sentenced to death were taken into the ranks as well. As a field sign, the carried a red ('Blood Banner'). By extension, the term ''forlorn hope'' became used for any body of troops placed in a hazardous position, e.g., an exposed outpost, or the defenders of an
outwork An outwork is a minor fortification built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached. Outworks such as ravelins, lunettes (demilunes), flèches and caponiers to shield bastions and fortification curtains ...
in advance of the main defensive position. This usage was especially common in accounts of the
English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
, as well as in the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
in the
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
of 1808–1814. In the days of muzzle-loading
musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
s, the term was most frequently used to refer to the first wave of soldiers attacking a breach in defenses during a
siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...
. While it was likely that most members of the forlorn hope would be killed or wounded, the intention was that some would survive long enough to seize a foothold that could be reinforced, or, at least, that a second wave with better prospects could be sent in while the defenders were reloading or engaged in mopping up the remnants of the first wave. That said, such soldiers were rarely suicidal or foolhardy: British troops of the forlorn hope at the 1812 Siege of Badajoz carried a large bag ( by in diameter) stuffed with hay or straw, which was thrown down into the enemy trenches to create a cushion and prevent injury as they jumped down. A forlorn hope may have been composed of volunteers and conscripted criminals, and were frequently led by ambitious junior officers with hopes of personal advancement: if the volunteers survived, and performed courageously, they would be expected to benefit in the form of promotions, cash gifts, and added glory to their name (a military tradition at least as old as the Roman Republic). The commanding officer was virtually guaranteed both a promotion and a long-term boost to his career prospects if he survived. In consequence, despite the grave risks involved for all concerned, there was often serious competition for the opportunity to lead such an assault and to display conspicuous valor. The French equivalent of the forlorn hope, called ('The Lost Children'), were all guaranteed promotion should they survive. Both enlisted men and officers joined the dangerous mission as an opportunity to raise themselves in the army.


See also

*
Banzai charge Banzai charge is the term that was used by the Allied forces of World War II to refer to Japanese human wave attacks and swarming staged by infantry units. This term came from the Japanese battle cry , and was shortened to banzai, specificall ...
*
Battle of Sari Bair The Battle of Sari Bair ( tr, Sarı Bayır Harekâtı), also known as the August Offensive (), represented the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during the Fir ...
*
Berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word '' berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers ...
*
Second Battle of Fort Wagner The Second Battle of Fort Wagner, also known as the Second Assault on Morris Island or the Battle of Fort Wagner, Morris Island, was fought on July 18, 1863, during the American Civil War. Union Army troops commanded by Brig. Gen. Quincy Gillm ...
*
Cannon fodder Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for combatants who are regarded or treated by government or military command as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where combatants are forced to deliberately ...
*
Battle of Halidzor The Battle of Halidzor ( hy, Հալիձորի ճակատամարտ) was a battle that took place in the spring of 1727 at Halidzor Fortress, in what is now the Syunik region of Armenia, near the modern-day city of Kapan, between the Armenian ...
*
Frontal assault The military tactic of frontal assault is a direct, full-force attack on the front line of an enemy force, rather than to the flanks or rear of the enemy. It allows for a quick and decisive victory, but at the cost of subjecting the attackers to ...
*
Inghimasi Inghimasi ( ar, اِنْغِمَاسِيّ, Inġimāsīy, "become immersed"), also called shahid ( ar, شَهِيد, "martyr") and istishhadi ( ar, إِسْتِشْهَادِيّ, "martyrdom seeker"), are forlorn hope or suicide attack shock t ...
*
Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
*
Penal military unit Penal military units, including penal battalions, penal companies, etc., are military formations consisting of convicts mobilized for military service. Such formations may contain soldiers convicted of offenses under military law, persons enrolled ...
*
Shock troops Shock troops or assault troops are formations created to lead an attack. They are often better trained and equipped than other infantry, and expected to take heavy casualties even in successful operations. "Shock troop" is a calque, a loose tra ...
*
Suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...
*
Suicide mission A suicide mission is a task which is so dangerous for the people involved that they are not expected to survive. The term is sometimes extended to include suicide attacks such as kamikaze and suicide bombings, whose perpetrators actively commit s ...


References

{{Wiktionary Military slang and jargon Siege tactics