1297: Edward I sailed to reinforce his Flemish allies against the French with an army of 9,000 aboard a fleet of 273 ships. However, on arrival off Flanders in the Swyn estuary, the perennial feud within his fleet between the Cinque Ports (73 ships) and Yarmouth (59 ships) spilled over into outright battle, which ended with seventeen ships destroyed.

1814: A brigade of veteran infantry from Wellington's Peninsular campaign was transferred to Canada to assist in the 1812-14 War against the United States. Under Major General Ross, the troops, reinforced by a naval landing party, were landed on the right bank of the Patuxent River, fifty miles from Washington, on 20 August. Marching up the river, they encountered 6,000 US troops drawn up at Bladensburg on 24 August. Although outnumbered, the British force charged, and the majority of the US troops broke, only a force of sailors, fighting ashore, offering any real resistance. By nightfall, Ross' men were in Washington. Coming under fire from a sniper, the troops retaliated by setting fire to the house from which the shots had come; the fire spread out of control, and ended with the Capitol in flames.

Ross then organized an attack on Baltimore, Maryland. His troops landed at the southern tip of the Patapsco Neck peninsula at North Point, twelve miles from the city, on the morning of September 12, 1814. During the march, and just prior to the Battle of North Point, the troops encountered American skirmishers and Ross rode forward to personally direct his troops. An American sniper shot him through the right arm into the chest. According to Baltimore tradition, two American riflemen, teenagers Daniel Wells and Henry McComas, aged 18 and 19, respectively, were credited with killing Ross; both were killed in the engagement. Ross died while being transported back to the ships.

After his death, the general's body was stored in a barrel of 129 gallons (586 l) of Jamaican rum and shipped on the British ship HMS Royal Oak to Halifax, Nova Scotia where his body was buried on September 29, 1814. It is thought that preparations for the Battle of New Orleans prevented his body from being shipped back to Britain.

He is commemorated by a 100 ft granite obelisk near his birthplace alongside Carlingford Lough in Ireland as well as by a monument in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. As an augmentation of honour his armorial bearings were given a second crest in which an arm is seen grasping the stars and stripes on a broken staff; and the family name was changed to Ross-of-Bladensburg.

1914: In Belgium, German troops fell upon the flank of 5th Division. However, 119 Battery, Royal Field Artillery, commanded by Major Alexander, and men from the 9th Lancers under Captain Grenfell, fought a superb defensive action to allow the Division to withdraw safely. Alexander and Grenfell both received the Victoria Cross.

1916: During a fierce action in Tanganyika, South African troops withdrew to regroup. However, Captain Bloomfield then realised that one of his men was missing. He returned across several hundred yards of bullet-swept ground to find the missing man who was lying wounded, and carried him back to safety.

1918: On the Western Front, Sergeant Forsyth of the New Zealand Engineers led successful attacks which eliminated three enemy machine-gun positions. A tank then attempted to aid him and his men in an attack on a further group of machine-guns, but it was knocked out and Forsyth wounded. However, the tank crew then joined him in a renewed attack on foot which proved successful. As they cleared the enemy positions, Forsyth was shot dead by a sniper.

Elsewhere on the front, Lieutenant MacIntyre, The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, distinguished himself repeatedly during the advance, clearing routes through barbed wire and taking out a machine-gun nest. Forsyth and MacIntyre were both awarded the Victoria Cross.

1919: In Northern Russia, during the Russian Civil War, Sergeant Pearse of the Royal Fusiliers cut his way through barbed wire under heavy fire, then charged single-handed a Bolshevik strongpoint, wiping out its garrison with grenades. Almost immediately afterwards he was hit and killed. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

1940: Heavy air attacks continued in the south and south-east of the country. The most vulnerable airfield, RAF Manston, had to be evacuated after yet another pounding. The day also saw the first German bombs fall on central London.

1942: An RAF Spitfire Vc based near Alexandria in Egypt managed to climb to 42,000 feet to shoot down a Junkers Ju-86P reconnaissance aircraft. The specially modified Ju-86s, with pressurised crew cabins, had previously managed to fly at extreme altitude without fear of interception.

The Spitfire pilot had no pressurised cockpit to protect him at such a height.

1944: Off Norway, the aircraft carriers HM Ships Formidable, Furious and Indefatigable launched an air strike against the great German battleship Tirpitz sheltering in Altenfjord. Fleet Air Arm Barracuda dive-bombers attacked, escorted by Seafires, Hellcats, Fireflies and Corsairs. Tirpitz was hit, though not seriously damaged.

Meanwhile in the Far East, the carriers HMS Indomitable and HMS Victorious launched an air strike against Japanese facilities in Sumatra.