Heroic last stands throughout history

[Varazhdin]

I don't know if this counts as a last stand but the siege of Gvozdansko in Croatia from 3rd October 1577 to 13th January 1578.

Fort defended by some 300 soldiers (no pun intended) - mostly miners from the area, and some regular fort guards, haramias and carniolan gunners, and attacked by some 10 000 ottoman soldiers held out for over three months and was only conquered because the defenders, who ran out of any food, water, ammunition and firewood, froze to death one night so they couldn't resist the ottoman charge that came on the next morning.
After he examined the conquered fort, the ottoman commander Ferhad-beg was so impressed by the bravery of defenders that he he had a catholic priest brought in who burried the defenders according to catholic custom.

[Farnhamia]

300 Spartans, 500 warriors from Tegea, 500 from Mantinea, 120 from Arcadian Orchomenos, 1000 from the rest of Arcadia, 200 from Phlius, 80 from Mycenae, 700 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 1000 Phocians and the Opuntian Locrians. Come on, you can look this stuff up.

Why the bloody hell was I thinking 40k Thebians? O.o

I blame sickness.

Could be. I doubt there were 40,000 men of military age in all Boiotia, ever. Hope you feel better.

[Samuraikoku]

I wonder what Yukimura Sanada would have felt.

[West Failure]

Khe Sanh perhaps.

[West Failure]

300 Spartans, 500 warriors from Tegea, 500 from Mantinea, 120 from Arcadian Orchomenos, 1000 from the rest of Arcadia, 200 from Phlius, 80 from Mycenae, 700 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 1000 Phocians and the Opuntian Locrians. Come on, you can look this stuff up.

...and all those Thespians going "Let's put on the show right here darlings".

[Risottia]

I don't know if Pavlov's House counts (since they managed to resist), but that's pretty heroic.
Also:
The Scharnhorst at the Battle of Cape North:
"Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today."
Admiral Bruce Fraser (RN)

[SaintB]

Well According to my History bbook, Leonidas and his 300 did fight til last man.

And i know that the movie is far from the truth

In reality it was more like 7,000 including 300 Spartans out of an army that numbered about 30-33k Greeks, on the final day Leonidus asked for volunteers to fight a rear guard action while the rest of the Greek troops withdrew. I don't believe that they actually meant to sacrifice themselves to the last man, a strategic withdrawal was the actual point. I'm not trying to take anything away form them though because a rear guard action against a superior force is often a suicide mission.

[Risottia]

Stalingrad. The cause was evil, but the men of the 6th Army did something truly heroic in scope. They were surrounded from the end of November to early February.

Not a last stand: they surrendered in the end.

[Pepe Dominguez]

I personally like the US navy at the Battle of Leyte(particularly the battle off Samar). It wasnt a last stand for the navy, however it was for the battle group.

What essentially amounted to the entire Japanese navy(at this point) including the 2 largest battleships ever built was bearing down on US troops in the Philippines. They managed to trick the largest fleet of the US navy to sail in essentially the wrong direction(they sent another large force to the north including most of their carriers) and left the entire operation to a scouting group meant to take out submarines. When under attack the group launched every plane, weapons or not to attack the battleships and cruisers while the US escort carriers escaped under smoke cover from the rest of the task force. Soon it was apparent that this wasnt enough and the destroyers and escorts turned to attack a Japanese force of over 10x its size(in tonnage). They landed dozens of torpedo hits on high value targets before either being sunk or retreating to the carriers. A submarine task force managed to hold back the largest fleet in the Japanese navy long enough for air support to come in from the surrounding fleets and eventually turned back the attack.

The US lost 2 of its 6 Carriers(Gambier Bay and St. Lo), 2 of 3 destroyers(Johnston and Hoel), and 1 of its destroyer escorts(Samuel B Roberts). According to reports, all but 1 American ship received heavy damage.

The Japanese force lost 4 heavy cruisers, 1 destroyer but retreated when they thought their battleships were in danger

It has to be one of the most important naval battles in history and a last stand for the task force protecting the American troops at Leyte. It started as 13 on 21 and ended as 7 on 16 but the US still managed to beat back an unprecedented attack.

I know its not technically a last stand as there were surviving ships on both sides, but it was for half of the task force. Thats why I picked it. This was the 300 of naval battles...only this time some of the spartans lived and the Persians failed.

*making a correction to this. 1 of the largest battle ships in the world was sunk the day before...so only 1 was in the actual battle. That slipped my ind when writing this

On this note, the battle of Philippine Sea deserves a mention, I think. It was basically the end of the Japanese Navy. Heroic but terrible, and a massacre for the Japanese. I got chills floating over the site of the battle on a ferry when I was out there last year, just thinking about how it must've been.

[Velka Morava]

Sacred Band of Thebes

[Ruridova]

The Alamo. Pretty damn brave if you ask me. Not really heroic as it might be brave, but it was awesome. Roughly 180-200 Texians stood up to the Mexican Army and fought back until they all were killed but it was pretty awesome. Not that I was there. It happened in 1836.

As a Texan, I'm obligated to agree.

Other last stands that come to mind are the Spartans at Thermoplaye, the defeat of the Japanese Navy in the Phillipine Sea, and the fall of the Byzantines when the Ottomans took Istanbul/Constantinople.

[Rhodenia]

The Alamo and the battle of Rourke's Drift stand out in my mind, although the brits survived there battle...

[Eviliatopia]

Dien Bien Phu

My GrandPa knew a paratrooper who was there, he met him during the algerian conflict. This guy had been brainwashed and tortured during his captivity.

The french HQ surrendered due to a lack of ammunitions. In a certain trench, french paratroopers had no bullets left, so they decided to charge the enemy, knives and baionettes out.
They all died.

Red Berets are pretty badass. So are "Legionnaires".

[Revolutionary KKE]

Yes Stalingrad! I am surprised this wasn't added sooner. Thanks AETEN II

[Greater Tezdrian]

Last Siege of Constantinople.

[SaintB]

The Alamo, Rochester Castle's defenders holding out against King John I, Agincourt... there are more but I gotta roll.