surprise attack
Noun
Meaning
an attack without warning
Source: WordNetSynonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Examples
Ælfgar appears to have died in 1062 and his young son Edwin was allowed to succeed as Earl of Mercia, but Harold then launched a surprise attack on Gruffydd.
After a heated council with other officers, Murray concluded that there was not enough time to mount a surprise attack and that the offensive should be aborted.
Also in the late 1950s, SAC continued to enhance its intelligence collection activities and develop innovative means of improving the survivability of its forces to surprise attack.
After negotiations broke down in 1904, the Japanese Navy opened hostilities by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur in a surprise attack.
At about 6:30 am, the Chinese infantry launched a surprise attack from the rear and forced the Indians to leave their trenches.
Although it sometimes too closely resembles a video game, the sequence effectively conveys the chaos and territory of being caught in the middle of a surprise attack.