On This Day ... in 1915 & Others
Second Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse, 2 Squadron Royal Flying Corps, set off on a bombing mission against the German-held rail junction at Courtrai in Belgium. Given the primitive nature of aircraft bombing equipment at this time, the only hope of accuracy was at low-level. His approach took him through heavy ground-fire, particularly from a German machine-gun in the belfry of the church. His aircraft was badly damaged, and he suffered a severe wound in the thigh, but nevertheless dropped his bomb successfully. He managed to fly back to base and insisted on making his report before receiving medical treatment. He died of his wounds the next day. Rhodes-Moorhouse was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, the first VC for air action.
On the ground, also in Belgium, Jemadar Mir Dast distinguished himself commanding a platoon of the Frontier Force in an attack on German positions, later rallying the battalion after the loss of senior officers. Furthermore, in the course of the day he carried no fewer than eight wounded British and Indian officers to safety. Corporal Smith of The Manchester Regiment was also active in the rescue of wounded men from No Man's Land, on one occasion carrying a casualty 250 yards back through enemy fire. Both the Jemadar and Smith received the Victoria Cross.
At Gallipoli, as the troops landed the previous day struggled to advance inland, Lieutenant Colonel Doughty-Wylie, Royal Welch Fusiliers, and Captain Walford, Royal Artillery, took charge of a major attack against an old fortification atop a hill when the brigade commander had been killed. Thanks to their leadership, the position was taken, but both men were killed. Both men were awarded the Victoria Cross, as was Corporal Cosgrove, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who ripped apart barbed wire entanglements with his bare hands to allow his section to get through and attack the Ottoman positions behind.
1918: Lance Corporal Hewitson, King's Own Regiment, led his section in the successful clearance of a stretch of German trenches on the Western Front, taking numerous prisoners and eliminating pockets of resistance that refused to surrender. He skilfully led an attack which captured a machine-gun team, then went to the rescue of a British machine-gun section under attack from a German bombing party armed with grenades. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1944: Australian troops liberated Alexishafen in New Guinea.
Bomber Command launched major raids against Essen, Schweinfurt and the railway yards at Villeneuve-St-Georges. During the raid on Schweinfurt, a Lancaster of 106 Squadron was hit by a night fighter attack, and a wing fuel tank set on fire. At 20,000 feet, the Flight Engineer, Sergeant Jackson, climbed out of a hatch into a 200 mph slipstream to tackle the blaze with a fire extinguisher, whilst colleagues held onto the rigging lines of his partially deployed parachute. Despite his efforts, the fire spread and badly burnt both Jackson and his parachute. His fellow crewmen realised that any further delay would mean his certain death and released the rigging lines. Jackson was blown from the wing and, despite the damage to his parachute which was still burning, descended relatively safely, though breaking his ankle on landing. The remainder of the Lancaster crew bailed out, joining him as prisoners of war. After the war, when the RAF learnt the details of Jackson's heroism, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1982: Argentinean forces on South Georgia formally surrendered. Lieutenant Commander Alfredo Astiz invited Captain Nicholas Barker to land his helicopter on a football pitch to accept the surrender. The football pitch was booby-trapped, fortunately Captain Baker sensed this landed elsewhere. Astiz was taken aboard HMS Antrim where he signed the surrender document in the presence of Captain Brian Young.
RFA Tidespring was tasked with taking the Argentine prisoners of war from South Georgia to Ascension Island. The recapture of South Georgia inspired Prime Minister Thatcher to implore members of the press to "Rejoice!"