made resupply of isolated strongpoints by air difficult. In particular, Hitler had hoped that the surrounded Stalingrad could be turned into a giant hedgehog, tying up vast numbers of Soviet troops. After the Battle of Kursk in 1943, the German Army lacked the essential components of the tactic, the mobile armoured reserve and an air combat capability necessary to secure local air superiority for keeping open aerial supply corridors, thus losing the war. The British Army used "brigade boxes" during the Western Desert Campaign, the boxes consisted of reinforced brigade-sized forces of all arms, protected by barbed wire and with the space between boxes covered by mine fields, defence of the boxes was centered around mutually supporting field artillery and anti-tank guns, which covered the mine fields and the approaches to neighbouring boxes. In the jungles of Burma during the Burma Campaign, the British and Indian armies formed forward defensive positions called "battalion boxes", which consisted of battalion sized forces that would be supplied from the air if surrounded. Post-World War II Following the end of World War II, the tactic was successfully used in Southeast Asia by the French against the Việt Minh in the Battle of Nà Sản. The French suffered a disaster in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, when General Võ Nguyên Giáp deployed unexpectedly-heavy concentrations of anti-aircraft artillery around the French garrison and successfully disrupted aerial resupply. Later, hedgehog defence was central in the US Marines' successful defence of Khe Sanh against the PAVN. A notable example of modern hedgehog defence is the Battle of Vukovar during the Croatian War of independence. A small, ill-armed but determined Croatian resistance kept a larger, heavily equipped but less-motivated Yugoslav Army at bay, buying precious time for the fledgling Republic of Croatia to organize its own armed forces. Another, ultimately less successful, application was the Iraqi military strategy during the first Gulf War to fortify Kuwait and create an extensive "hedgehog" defensive position. The forward defensive positions were staffed by its elite Republican Guard. The dug-in forces complemented in-depth defence features, such as minefields, tank traps, fire trenches, and other elements of trench and bunker warfare. See also 150th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom) Chaco War Fire support base References Defensive tactics