1916: British and Australian troops began an offensive at Pozieres Ridge during the Battle of the Somme. The village of Pozieres itself fell to Australian troops in the first hour, but the ridge, heavily fortified, took another two weeks to fall. Two Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross for their gallantry on the first day: Second Lieutenant Blackburn led a succession of difficult attacks which took over 350 yards of German trench-lines, while Private Leak distinguished himself as a bomber, at one point eliminating at close-quarters a rival enemy grenade team.

1940: Luftwaffe activity continued to be rather sporadic both by day and night.

1941: Reconnaissance detected that the Scharnhorst had left her consorts Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen in Brest, and had slipped south to the small port of La Pallice. An attempt had been made to conceal her absence by the substitution of a large tanker, covered with camouflage netting. Fearing that she might be about to attempt an Atlantic raid, six Bomber Command Stirlings braved the German defences in an unsuccessful evening attack; one failed to return.

1944: After two months concentrating its efforts on supporting the Normandy landings, Bomber Command resumed operations against German cities and industry, launching 629 aircraft against Kiel. The German defences were caught off-guard by the change in focus, and further confused by effective radio counter-measures conducted by the specialist aircraft of 100 Group. Only four Lancasters were lost. The bombing was particularly effective, with every major U-boat yard hit.