Back from Normandy by Nicolas Trudgian. (AP) SIG72 and would arrive over their

and would arrive over their targets in daylight

valiant but outnumbered units of the Armee de lAir struck back with great courage against advancing German Panzer divisions

The Dido class cruiser HMS Naiad is pictured together with the cruiser HMS Leander during the encounter with the French Guepard in 1941 whilst they were both engaged in operations against the Vichy-French forces in Syria

The Sikhs had no compassion for the cavalry horses either - many of the poor animals (over 100 by some accounts) had to be shot

The nuclear-powered submarine HMS Repulse (S23) manoeuvres in preparation to berth at HMS Dolphin in Portsmouth harbour in the late 1970s

Back from Normandy by Nicolas Trudgian. (AP) SIG72 and would arrive over theirDHM2659AP. Back from Normandy by Nicolas Trudgian. Like the Messerschmitt 109, its great adversary throughout almost six years of aerial combat, the Spitfire was a fighter par excellence. Good as many other types may have been, these two aircraft became symbols of the two opposing air forces they represented. Their confrontation, which began in 1940 during the Battle of Britain, continued without interruption until the last days of World War Two. From