Its a common scene in Hollywood movies where the hero takes on and defeats multiple opponents at once in a fight scene, are there any confirmed historical examples and what was the largest mismatch in numbers with the single person still victorious?
Audey Murphy VS The Entire Wehrmacht is a good example (from wikipedia):
‘The Germans scored a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer, setting it alight, forcing the crew to abandon it.[68] Murphy ordered his men to retreat to positions in the woods, remaining alone at his post, shooting his M1 carbine and directing artillery fire via his field radio while the Germans aimed fire directly at his position.[69] Murphy mounted the abandoned, burning tank destroyer and began firing its .50 caliber machine gun at the advancing Germans, killing a squad crawling through a ditch towards him.[70] For an hour, Murphy stood on the flaming tank destroyer returning German fire from foot soldiers and advancing tanks, killing or wounding 50 Germans. He sustained a leg wound during his stand, and stopped only after he ran out of ammunition.’
Also Bishnu Shrestha is another when he single-handidly defeated between 15 to 40 train robbers:
Are there any examples of this but in unarmed combat?
Battle of Stamford Bridge : wiki*"The English advance was then delayed by the need to pass through the choke-point presented by the bridge itself. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has it that a giant Norse axeman (possibly armed with a Dane Axe) blocked the narrow crossing and single-handedly held up the entire English army. The story is that this axeman cut down up to 40 Englishmen and was defeated only when an English soldier floated under the bridge in a half-barrel and thrust his spear through the planks in the bridge, mortally wounding the axeman.[13]*
You might want to reconsider the Bishnu Shrestha one. While his actions were heroic it sounds like from reading your link that he got about 3 of the robbers before he was overpowered and defeated.
The chevalier Bayard is famous for a similar feat (and for others) :
[QUOTE=wikipedia]
At the Battle of Garigliano he single-handedly defended the bridge of the Garigliano against 200 Spaniards, an exploit that brought him such renown that Pope Julius II tried unsuccessfully to entice him into his service.
Biblically, the man in 13th-12th century BC named Shamgar, in Israel, struck down 600 enemies, although it is not mentioned in how many fights this death tally was arrived at.
