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On 10th May 1940 Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain...Continue Reading

On 18th April 1942, the United States launched a combined-arms air raid on Tokyo and the Japanese Home Islands...Continue Reading

On 12th April 1917, the Canadian Army Corps captured Vimy Ridge from the German Sixth Army after 4 days of fierce fighting. One of the most important geographic features on the Western Front during World War I, Vimy Ridge was considered practically impregnable... Continue Reading

On 31st March 1921, the Australian Air Force was formed, with its 'Royal' prefix receiving approval by King George V in June, with effect from August... Continue Reading

On 14th March 1945, during World War II, the first Grand Slam bomb was dropped by the RAF no. 617 Squadron Leader CC Calder on the Bielefeld Viaduct in Germany. The bomb penetrated deep underground before detonating; the combined use of the Grand Slam and several Tallboys caused more than 100 yards of the viaduct to collapse through the earthquake bomb effect.Continue Reading

On 8th March 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the battle of Guadalajara began with an offensive by the Italian Corpo di Truppe Volontarie (CTV) and Nationalist forces to encircle the Spanish capital, Madrid. Continue Reading

Situated between the islands of Sumatra and Java, the Sunda Strait was the location for a number of naval engagements that took place in late February and early March 1942, as part of the larger Battle of the Java Sea (also known as the Java Sea Campaign)...Continue Reading

On the 21st February 1916, during the First World War, the battle of Verdun commenced with an attack by German troops under General Erich von Falkenhayn on the French fortress city of Verdun. A bloody war of attrition, the conflict continued for over 300 days, becoming one of the longest battles in human history.Continue Reading

Today's Sunday Photo blog, in light of yesterday's Valentine's Day celebrations, is dedicated to the aptly named Valentine Tank. Designs for Britain's most produced and most widely used tank of the Second World War were begun without a specification from the War Office in the late 1930s...Continue Reading