On This Day ... in 1900 & 1941
At Korn Spruit, a Royal Artillery column ran into a Boer ambush. The leading battery was destroyed, but a second - Q Battery - went into action to provide covering fire. The guns were eventually dragged back to safety by hand, after a desperate action. Major Edmund Phipps-Hornby
Sergeant Parker, Driver Glasock and Gunner Lodge of the Royal Artillery, and Lieutenant Maxwell of Roberts' Light Horse were all awarded the Victoria Cross.
Phipps Hornby went on to serve in the First World War and achieved the rank of Brigadier General and later served as Deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire. He died in Sonning, Berkshire, at the age of 89
1941: RAF Blenheims began conducting Fringe operations - nominal anti-shipping operations also authorised to attack targets of opportunity ashore along the coasts of Occupied Europe. Two German destroyers were attacked, along with coastal artillery. Two Blenheims failed to return. That night saw Bomber Command drop its first 4,000lb "Cookie" blast bombs, from Wellingtons during an attack on Emden.