Sometimes, insurgents can ambush incumbents, doing little until right before election day and then springing a surprise offensive.

The citation documents the team's pivotal role in turning back the North Vietnamese Army's massive surprise offensive of 1972.

Earlier this month, the Croatian Army launched a surprise offensive near the town of Medak, capturing several villages.

This is the second surprise offensive by the Iraqi Army within a month.

The Athenian army, outnumbered four to one, launched a surprise offensive, and what looked like suicide turned out to be astonishing victory.

On 16 December, the Germans launched a surprise offensive through the Ardennes Forest which became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The motorised logistics also helped during the rapid redeployment to the south, after the surprise Republican offensive at Brunete in July 1937.

When the Poles learned that the enemy had camped for the night within the vicinity, a vanguard was assembled to engage in a surprise offensive.

When the Russians launched their surprise offensive in January 1916, culminating in the Battle of Koprukoy the army numbered 65,000 men and 100 guns.