On this day...... 24 August

1217: Hubert de Burgh, commander of Dover Castle, led a squadron of 36 English ships against 80 French vessels under Eustace the Monk.  The French had sailed from Calais, and are likely to have been headed for London, which was held by English rebels. De Burgh led his ships around the stern of the French squadron, and Eustace at first thought he was trying to raid Calais.  However, de Burgh was in fact seeking the advantage of a windward position, and was able to start picking off the French ships from astern, starting with Eustace's own ship, which was heavily laden with a siege engine and straggling.  Eustace, a very successful pirate based on Sark who had fought for both sides in the previous decade, was killed and 65 French ships were captured.  De Burgh was appointed Lord High Admiral in recognition of his leadership, which effectively ended French attempts to exploit the civil war to conquer England, and won the regent William Marshal time to secure the kingdom for the young Henry III.

1297: Edward I sailed to reinforce his Flemish allies against the French with an army of 9,000 aboard a fleet of 273 ships.  However, on arrival off Flanders in the Swyn estuary, the perennial feud within his fleet between the Cinque Ports (73 ships) and Yarmouth (59 ships) spilled over into outright battle, which ended with seventeen ships destroyed.

1814: A brigade of veteran infantry from Wellington's Peninsular campaign was transferred to Canada to assist in the 1812-14 War against the United States.  Under Major General Ross, the troops, reinforced by a naval landing party, were landed on the right bank of the Patuxent River, fifty miles from Washington, on 20 August.  Marching up the river, they encountered 6,000 US troops drawn up at Bladensburg on 24 August.  Although outnumbered, the British force charged, and the majority of the US troops broke, only a force of sailors, fighting ashore, offering any real resistance.  By nightfall, Ross' men were in Washington.  Coming under fire from a sniper, the troops retaliated by setting fire to the house from which the shots had come; the fire spread out of control, and ended with the Capitol in flames.

1914: In Belgium, German troops fell upon the flank of 5th Division.  However, 119 Battery, Royal Field Artillery, commanded by Major Alexander, and men from the 9th Lancers under Captain Grenfell, fought a superb defensive action to allow the Division to withdraw safely.  Alexander and Grenfell both received the Victoria Cross.

1916: During a fierce action in Tanganyika, South African troops withdrew to regroup.  However, Captain Bloomfield then realised that one of his men was missing.  He returned across several hundred yards of bullet-swept ground to find the missing man who was lying wounded, and carried him back to safety.

1918: On the Western Front, Sergeant Forsyth of the New Zealand Engineers led successful attacks which eliminated three enemy machine-gun positions.  A tank then attempted to aid him and his men in an attack on a further group of machine-guns, but it was knocked out and Forsyth wounded.  However, the tank crew then joined him in a renewed attack on foot which proved successful.  As they cleared the enemy positions, Forsyth was shot dead by a sniper.  Elsewhere on the front, Lieutenant MacIntyre, The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, distinguished himself repeatedly during the advance, clearing routes through barbed wire and taking out a machine-gun nest.  Forsyth and MacIntyre were both awarded the Victoria Cross.

1919: In Northern Russia, during the Russian Civil War, Sergeant Pearse of the Royal Fusiliers cut his way through barbed wire under heavy fire, then charged single-handed a Bolshevik strongpoint, wiping out its garrison with grenades. Almost immediately afterwards he was hit and killed.  He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

1940: Heavy air attacks continued in the south and south-east of the country.  The most vulnerable airfield, RAF Manston, had to be evacuated after yet another pounding.  The day also saw the first German bombs fall on central London.  The day's events are recorded on the RAF's Battle of Britain website.

1942: An RAF Spitfire Vc based near Alexandria in Egypt managed to climb to 42,000 feet to shoot down a Junkers Ju-86P reconnaissance aircraft.  The specially modified Ju-86s, with pressurised crew cabins, had previously managed to fly at extreme altitude without fear of interception.  The Spitfire pilot had no pressurised cockpit to protect him at such a height.

1944: Off Norway, the aircraft carriers HM Ships Formidable, Furious and Indefatigable launched an air strike against the great German battleship Tirpitz sheltering in Altenfjord.  Fleet Air Arm Barracuda dive-bombers attacked, escorted by Seafires, Hellcats, Fireflies and Corsairs.  Tirpitz was hit, though not seriously damaged.  Meanwhile in the Far East, the carriers HMS Indomitable and HMS Victorious launched an air strike against Japanese facilities in Sumatra.