1918: The Germans resumed their offensive efforts on the Western Front, given additional urgency by the arrival in France of the first US troops. Code-named Blucher and Yorck, twin blows fell on the Allied positions along the River Aisne.

In particular, Duchene's Sixth French Army was routed. Brigadier-General George Grogan, commanding the British 23rd Brigade, rallied the survivors of his division and managed to stabilise a section of the line. He was constantly in the front line organising the defence and encouraging his men, riding his horse up and down the positions through heavy fire.

One horse was shot from under him, but he continued regardless of his personal safety, and was awarded the Victoria Cross: one of the highest ranking officers ever to win the VC.

Elsewhere on the front, the 11th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers was also forced to retreat after heavy losses during the German onslaught. A number of wounded men were left behind, but Lance-Corporal Halliwell managed to find a stray horse, and ignored enemy fire to ride it into No Man's Land to carry back the casualties. His repeated efforts rescued ten men before the German advance rendered further attempts impossible. Halliwell also received the Victoria Cross.

1940: Following the decision the previous day to evacuate from Dunkirk, the first of the flotilla of ships and small boats arrived to start taking off the thousands of troops, braving heavy air attacks and artillery fire. The Luftwaffe responded with an intensive series of attacks on the harbour, which sank two large ships, set fire to oil installations and blocked the port, forcing the evacuation to be mounted across the beaches. RAF aircraft flew numerous patrols over the area, with heavy combat resulting.

1941: The Home Fleet caught the German battleship Bismarck, damaged the previous day by Ark Royal's Swordfish torpedo-bombers, and avenged the loss of HMS Hood. The cruiser Norfolk relocated Bismarck, and the battleships Rodney and King George V engaged Bismarck for over two hours, leaving her wrecked from stem to stern without suffering a single hit in return. The coup de grace was delivered by HMS Dorsetshire's torpedoes. However, a massive air and sea search failed to locate Bismarck's erstwhile consort Prinz Eugen which succeeded in joining Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest.

1943: 14 Bomber Command Mosquito aircraft from 105 and 139 Squadrons set out on a long-range low-level penetration of Occupied Europe to attack the Zeiss optics factory and a glassworks at Jena. The targets were bombed with great accuracy, but five aircraft were lost, two to a mid-air collision.

1944: Bomber Command made another major effort against targets in France in preparation for the Normandy landings. 1,111 aircraft attacked railway yards, coastal batteries, a military camp and an airfield at nine locations during the night.