Question

[timek28]

What does the rugged defense mean for unit that has no ammo? What are they defending with?

Fists, bayonets. ramming (in case of tanks)?

[Tarrak]

They go into close combat and bite you to death.

[bebro]

"During World War II, Ernest Scribbler, a British manufacturer of jokes (Michael Palin), creates the funniest joke in the world. It is so funny that he promptly dies laughing. (...) The British Army test the joke on Salisbury Plain against a rifleman (Terry Jones), who snickers and falls dead on the range, then translate it into German. "

[timek28]

They go into close combat and bite you to death.

[okiemcguire]

From the Manual: "Occasionally a defending unit manages to surprise an attacking unit and opens fire from unexpected direction at close range. This situation is known as rugged defence. When rugged defence occurs, the attacker often takes heavy casualties.

Only entrenched units can put up rugged defence and the higher entrenchment level, the more likely it becomes. That’s why it is often a good idea to soften an entrenched unit with bombers and artillery before attacking it. Also, experience levels of the attacker and defender affect the chance of rugged defence. Experienced units are less likely to run into rugged defense, and have a better chance to catch enemy unit in it on defence. While planning your attack, you can see the exact chance of rugged defence in the extended combat prediction window, invoked by Ctrl+click on an enemy unit. Military engineers are specifically trained to fight against entrenched enemies and so are immune to rugged defence. "

I assume (and you know what they say about that word), that the defender was still entrached well enough to put up a fight. Even without ammo...

[Raven728]

"During World War II, Ernest Scribbler, a British manufacturer of jokes (Michael Palin), creates the funniest joke in the world. It is so funny that he promptly dies laughing. (...) The British Army test the joke on Salisbury Plain against a rifleman (Terry Jones), who snickers and falls dead on the range, then translate it into German. "

Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer?
Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!