relief force
Soldiers breaking siege
A relief force is a military unit sent to rescue or reinforce troops under siege or heavy pressure.
The term evokes desperate situations where surrounded forces await salvation: The relief force arrived just as the garrison was about to surrender.
By extension, any group arriving to help an overwhelmed situation: Fresh volunteers served as a relief force for the exhausted search teams.
- reinforcementsAdditional troops sent in
- rescueSave from harm
- cavalryMounted military force
- cavalry chargeArmed riders attacking en masse
- siegeEncirclement forcing surrender
breakthrough · besieged · behind enemy lines · liberation · column · march · stronghold · hold the line · surrounded · cut off · advance · extraction · holdout · last stand · citadel · flanking · encirclement · sortie
- Battle of the BulgeBattle of the Bulge, Bastogne, Patton, McAuliffe, 101st Airborne
- siegessiege, siege tower, siege engine, siege engines, siege warfare
- deploymentmobilization, redeployment, rapid deployment, troop movement, troop surge
- reinforcementsreserve team, second wave, replacements, support units, National Guard
- siege warfaresiege, siege tower, siege engine, siege guns, siege warfare
- encirclementpincer movement, double envelopment, pocket, cordon, investment