diversionary attack

An attack wherein a force attacks, or threatens to attack, a target other than the main target for the purpose of drawing enemy defenses away from the main effort. See also demonstration.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

diversionary attack - an attack calculated to draw enemy defense away from the point of the principal attack

diversion

diversionary landing - an amphibious diversionary attack

attack, onrush, onset, onslaught - (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons); "the attack began at dawn"

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

When it was dark, the SBS reportedly set up a diversionary attack to trick the ISIS fighters that they were being attacked from another position.

Hero Brit troops 'fight off 100 ISIS fanatics in six-hour battle to save family'; The Special Boat Service are said to have used nightfall to their advantage and created a diversionary attack to trick the ISIS fighters before fleeing for safety

Marcelos Morales, the police regional director, instructed all his police commanders in the regions to 'strictly' enforce all possible actions 'to preempt any diversionary attack by the terrorist groups.'

PNP director: 'Preempt any diversionary attack'

Proceeding north to south: a diversionary attack by the Sherbrooke Fusiliers was made against Francqueville.

OPERATION WINDSOR (4/5 JULY 1944)

The Germans also planned a diversionary attack to the north between Aberdeen and Newcastle.

German D-Day; Hitler's terrifying plans to invade Brighton and Ramsgate in 1940 raid

The post Facing defeat in Mosul, IS mounts diversionary attack to south appeared first on Cyprus Mail .

Facing defeat in Mosul, IS mounts diversionary attack to south

Diversionary attack? Many in Manila feared after the attack began that it was linked to ongoing battles with Muslim militants aligned with the Daesh group in the southern Philippine city of Marawi.

Duterte absolves Daesh in Manila resort attack; House speaker not convinced

Summary: Iraqi and Kurdish forces advanced on a town near Mosul Sunday as part of an operation to retake the northern city from Daesh (ISIS), which staged an assault in western Iraq that appeared to be another diversionary attack.

Iraqi forces advance as Daesh pushes back

They were part of the 46th (North Midland), unfairly tarnished as gun-shy following a failed diversionary attack on Gommecourt in 1916.

BLOWN AWAY; The VC hero who blew his hunting horn in the midst of battle, rallied his troops and turned a bloody massacre into triumph Bold heroism of one Midland officer helped turn tide of a brutal First World War battle to win a classic British victory. By MIKE LOCKLEY

There would be a strike in Ireland, a major thrust down the west coast of England and a diversionary attack into Northumberland, led by the earls of March, Moray and Douglas.

HISTORY

Although planned as a diversionary attack, the fighting at Hougoumont continued on and off throughout the battle, steadily draining French troops.

Strategy in the aftermath of war: Waterloo, the Somme, and Omaha Beach

KHARTOUM: South Sudanese forces have made a diversionary attack near the contested Abyei region, state-linked media in Khartoum said, as international pressure mounted Wednesday to pull the rivals back from the brink of all-out war.

Pressure mounts to pull rival Sudans back from brink

The Battle of Fromelles was a diversionary attack to distract German reserves from the Somme offensive, 50 miles to the south.

Ghosts of Fromelles