On this day...... 9 August

1643: Charles I laid siege to Gloucester, beginning the construction of formal entrenchments and siege lines.  The Parliamentarian presence at Gloucester controlled a key crossing of the River Severn and hindered Charles' communications with his bedrock of support in Wales.  The Earl of Essex promptly set out with relief forces from London, and forced Charles to abandon the siege on 5 September.

1666: During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Prince Rupert and George Monck, the Duke of Albemarle, commanding the English fleet off the Dutch coast, sent a squadron of light ships under the piratical Captain Holmes to raid the islands of Vlie and Schelling.  "Sir Robert Holmes' Bonfire" was the result - 150 Dutch merchantmen ablaze, and cargo worth over £1 million up in flames.  (The annual budget of the Royal Navy in peace at the time was about £400,000.)

1855: During the Crimean War, a British fleet sent to the Baltic bombarded the then Russian port of Helsinki.

1914: The German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau safely entered Turkish waters at the Dardanelles, having embarrassingly escaped the British Mediterranean Fleet.  The ships acted as a catalyst for the Ottoman entry into the war and remained a thorn in the side of the Allies for the rest of the war.

1915: On Gallipoli at Lone Pine, the ANZAC forces continued in fierce fighting with the Turks.  Five Victoria Crosses were won there, with a sixth elsewhere on the peninsula:

• Captain Hansen, Lincolnshire Regiment
• Captain Shout, 1st Australian (New South Wales) Battalion (posthumous)
• Lieutenant Tubb, 7th Australian (Victoria) Battalion
• Corporal Burton, 7th Australian (Victoria) Battalion (posthumous)
• Corporal Dunstan, 7th Australian (Victoria) Battalion
• Private Hamilton, 3rd Australian (New South Wales) Battalion

1916: On the Western Front, Captain Noel Chavasse, Royal Army Medical Corps, worked tirelessly for two days tending to wounded men and frequently venturing into No Man's Land to look for casualties and collect identity tags of those killed.  He was wounded carrying a wounded man to safety, but stayed at his post, and is thought to have saved at least twenty lives.  He was awarded the Victoria Cross.  Almost exactly a year later, 31 July to 2 August, he again demonstrated remarkable courage and commitment, ignoring his own wounds to rescue and care for casualties.  He finally succumbed to his injuries and died, but was awarded a posthumous Bar to his VC, one of only three men to win the award twice.

1918: Rawlinson's Amiens offensive continued to cut deep into the German positions.  Five VCs were won:

• Sergeant Harris, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (posthumous)
• Sergeant Zengel, Saskatchewan Regiment
• Corporal Brereton, Manitoba Regiment
• Corporal Coppins, Manitoba Regiment
• Private Beatham, 8th Australian (Victoria) Battalion (posthumous)

1940: The Luftwaffe maintained a relatively modest level of activity.  The day's events are recorded on the RAF's Battle of Britain website.

1942: A small Japanese cruiser squadron approached at night the US and Australian fleet covering the landing of US Marines on Guadalcanal.  Off Savo Island, HMAS Canberra and USS Chicago were surprised by the Japanese attack.  Canberra was sunk, and Chicago badly damaged.  The US cruisers Astoria, Quincy and Vincennes were also lost as the Japanese expertise in night-fighting was painfully demonstrated.

1945: Lt Robert Gray, Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve, flying a Corsair fighter with the Fleet Air Arm in the Pacific, was killed pressing home an attack on Japanese destroyers off Honshu, despite his aircraft being set ablaze by anti-aircraft fire from five warships.  He scored a direct hit and sank a destroyer before crashing.  He was posthumously awarded the last Victoria Cross of the Second World War.