Neither Britain's small, professional forces nor Germany's large, conscript forces were designed to fight an offensive land war against a medium-sized European power.

ECONOMIST: A survey of NATO

The prospect of having to condone the involvement of German soldiers in what would be their first offensive mission since the second world war might now, some believe, prove the last straw.

ECONOMIST: Germany's Greens

In a fierce resurgence of their war, Ethiopian forces launched an offensive into Eritrea .

ECONOMIST: Rebel held

That had the effect of taking Shiite militias that had mostly been fighting passively on the war defending their own population centers and bringing them into the war en masse and on the offensive in ways that al-Qaeda hoped would create enough chaos in Iraq to force the Americans out.

NPR: Evaluating The Surge In Iraq

Elsewhere in the war-riddled region, the joint offensive by the predominantly Muslim Bosnian government and Croats continues to refrain from attacking the Serb stronghold, Banja Luka.

CNN: New air strikes nixed in Bosnia- Sept. 20, 1995

As somebody whose grandfather risked his life and caught a bullet fighting the Nazis in World War II, that is one of the most offensive, disgusting, incendiary attacks a person can make.

FORBES: Giving The Global Warming Bully A Free Pass

The Germans did not have the combat power to achieve the war-winning breakthrough that Hitler sought from the surprise offensive, but the panzers' sweep through the Ardennes thoroughly traumatized the Allied high command.

WSJ: Book Review: The Guns at Last Light

Apple launched the first offensive in the smartphone and tablet wars, but in a long-term war of attrition it is doomed to lose for the same reasons that it lost the original PC war.

FORBES: In a War of Attrition, Microsoft Will Beat Apple

Five hundred UN peacekeepers will not win the war against the rebels and it is not even clear that they want to actually mount an offensive but the convoy that headed out of Freetown on Friday was the first sign for several weeks that the UN intends to do business.

BBC: UN's credibility mission