1916: On the Somme, advancing troops from the Yorkshire Regiment came under heavy fire from a German machine-gun at close range. Second Lieutenant Bell stalked the gun and knocked it out with revolver, then led an attack which secured fifty prisoners. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, but died in action five days later. He is the only professional footballer ever to receive the VC, having played for Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Bradford before enlisting in 1914.

A posthumous Victoria Cross was also awarded to Lieutenant Wilkinson of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, who was killed rescuing a casualty from No Man's Land, having previously defeated an enemy counter-attack, and struggled forward with a machine-gun to the German trenches to secure the advance.

1942: A Coastal Command Wellington scored the first sinking of a U-boat with the Leigh Light. Although the development of airborne radar allowed Coastal Command aircraft to detect U-boats recharging their batteries on the surface at night, the minimum range of the early radars often exceeded the maximum visual range at which the submarine could be identified and attacked. Squadron Leader Leigh successfully developed a powerful airborne searchlight that could be fitted beneath a Wellington, and, cued by the radar operator, switched on to illuminate the target on the attack run.