Cryptic crossword clue
Retreat to north to cover country devastatingly attacked 5

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word NUKED

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
N
U
K
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D

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "devastatingly attacked" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case devastatingly attacked = nuked.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

What does NUKED mean?

NUKED verb
  1. To use a nuclear weapon on a target.
  2. To destroy or erase completely.
  3. (by extension) To carry out a denial-of-service attack against (an IRC user).
  4. To expose to some form of radiation.
  5. To cook in a microwave oven.
  6. To over-analyze or overly despair over something.

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