1943-2023: DAMBUSTERS

Seventy-seven returned-only 48 lived to tell the story Official Historian, No. 617 Squadron Association, Dr Robert Owen, recounts what happened next for the men who were immortalised by their role in the epic raid

MAY 1943

To commemorate 80 years since the Second World War, History of War will be taking a look at some of the key events taking place during each month of the conflict

MUSEUMS & EVENTS

Discover Jacobites in Derby, a beautiful castle in Powis and Reading’s remarkable Victorian replica of the Bayeux Tapestry

CRASSUS' DOOMED CAMPAIGN

Determined to bask in the glory of his own military triumph, Marcus Crassus, the richest man in all of Rome, turned his gaze towards Parthia. His thirst for adoration would result in a catastrophe that would shake the Republic and condemn thousands of men to death

HIROSHI 'HERSHEY' MIYAMURA

On 24 April 1951, when Chinese communist soldiers attacked US Company H in the hills near the Imjin River, this corporal held back the tide and protected his men

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

In 1943, resistance fighters in the Polish capital attacked German soldiers, sent to round up and transport the city’s Jews to concentration camps

THE SCHELDT

In the autumn of 1944, with the Allied supply chain stretching back to Normandy, First Canadian Army led the offensive to clear the Scheldt estuary and free the port of Antwerp

NAPOLEON vs the TSAR

At the Battle of Friedland, the emperor saw a chance to finally bring Russia to heel — but did he betray his own rules of war to become ‘Master of Europe’?

THE WAR ON TERROR 2001- PRESENT DAY

After the 9/11 terror attacks, Navy SEAL teams were sent into Afghanistan in late 2001 to bring the groups responsible to justice

GRENADA & PANAMA 1983-89

In the 1980s the Navy SEALs were called upon to take part in two operations that would test their unique skills to the limit

THE VIETNAM WAR 1965-75

The jungles and rice paddies of South-East Asia were among the first battlefields for the US Navy’s new special forces teams

DEMOLITION FROGMEN

Today’s US Navy SEALs have their origins in various WWII amphibious warfare units that fought in North Africa, France and the Pacific

DID ANCIENT ROME FIELD 'SPECIAL FORCES'?

While the organisation, training and equipment of Rome's legions were Key to their dominance, there were also specialists at work in the shadows who were offen critical to victory. Were they the ancient equivalent of today’s elite military?

MUSEUMS & EVENTS

Discover The Tank Museum's centenary celebrations, the Rijksmuseum's acclaimed Vermeer exhibition and Newcastle-upon-Tyne's formidable namesake fortress

OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR

Eleanor Dickens, curator at the British Library, reveals how 60 years ago a radical Stage musical changed perceptions of the First World War

BATTLE OF MONTE CASSINO X CORPS ASSAULT

The three divisions suffered 4,000 casualties in the early days of this ill-fated advance

DAVID CURRIE

In August 1944, as Allied forces attempted to close the Falaise Gap, a Canadian major led a small battlegroup into a French village to prevent the enemy escaping

LINDISFARNE ENGLAND'S BLOODIEST VIKING RAID

The tidal island of Lindisfarne can claim to be the single most important sacred site in England, but it was here that the first significant Viking raid on Britain took place

MILVIAN BRIDGE

Rival emperors Constantine and Maxentius fought to establish their supremacy in a battle that would have momentous consequences for the Roman Empire

WOMEN BEHIND 'THE FEW' WAAF

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force and British Air Intelligence during the Second World War

CAMP DAVID ACCORDS

Efforts to officially end the Yom Kippur War and wider conflict between Egypt and Israel finally concluded with an historic summit in the US

NICKEL GRASS THE GREAT AIRLIFT

With the IDF suffering multiple setbacks in the first week of the war, Israel’s leadership faced a terrifying possibility. Was this the last great struggle in their country’s brief existence?

STRUGGLE FOR THE GOLAN

The IDF thought it held the perfect buffer against the Syrians, but on 6 October its men were outgunned and outnumbered in a brutal tank battle

EGYPT STRIKES BACK

To avenge its humiliation in 1967 the Egyptian military assaulted the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula during the Yom Kippur holiday

1870: FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

Defeating their powerful neighbour to the west was the crowning glory for the Confederation and signalled the birth of the German Empire

1866: AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR

The main opponent to Bismarck's plan for unification was defeated in just seven weeks

1848 & 1864: SCHLESWIG WARS

Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck's first roll of the iron dice came in a war against two duchies controlled in part by Denmark

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE

After dissolving the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon established a pro-French military alliance of German states that loosely resembled a united Germany

SHREWSBURY

In 1403, English archers faced each other in battle for the first time as rebels sought to topple Henry IV

VIETNAM’S 'BAND OF BROTHERS': Q&A WITH IAN GARDNER

How 3rd Battalion, 506th Airborne overcame adversity in the jungles of Southeast Asia, continuing the legacy of their WWII forebears