On This Day ... in 1916 & Others
On the Western Front, British engineers were digging a mine underneath the German trenches when the enemy detonated their own counter-mine beneath the British shaft. Five of the miners were trapped in the tunnel by the resulting cave-in. A rescue party worked for a whole day to try to reach them, and eventually made contact through a small shaft. Three of the trapped men were able to crawl to safety, but a fourth man was too seriously injured to get through the hole.
Sapper Hackett, the fifth member of the team, insisted on staying with him rather than taking the opportunity to escape. There was another cave-in shortly afterwards, and by the time a fresh tunnel had been dug three days later, both men had died. Hackett was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.
The VC was also awarded to Sergeant Erskine of the Cameronians, who rescued three wounded men under heavy fire from No Man's Land.
1940: Three RAF Blenheim bombers and six Hurricane fighters reached Malta after an epic flight across France and French North Africa which had begun on 16 June. Twelve Blenheims and twelve Hurricanes had been dispatched, but the journey had been plagued by bad weather and a disastrous series of accidents which cost the lives of nineteen aircrew. Two other Hurricanes, from a reinforcement flight intended for North Africa, also ended up on the island, and although the Blenheims and three of the fighters were subsequently sent on to Alexandria, five of the Hurricanes were retained on Malta. There they backed up the six Gladiator biplanes which had thus far been the island's only fighter defence.