The troops made a desperate 'last-ditch' effort to keep the town from being captured.
The negotiations were a 'last-ditch' attempt to prevent a labor strike.
His girlfriend 'ditched' him. = He 'got ditched' by his girlfriend.
(..) -Sick? Just a little bit sick, that's all. Your pa was wild when they wouldn't let him fight 'cause of his broken knee. He had fits when they took us field hands to dig ditches for white soldiers to hide in. But your ma says the Confederacy needs us. So we're gonna dig for the South. (..)1939 Gone with the Wind