Warfare in News

Posted on Wednesday 9th November

News update: The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Red Arrows pilot killed yesterday morning when he was ejected from his Hawk T1 aircraft was Red 5 – Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham, aged 34.

Flt Lt Cunningham joined the RAF in 2000 and was selected for Fast Jet Training – his childhood dream. He had an accomplished career, serving first with 617 Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth for 3 years, during which time he completed several operational tours of Iraq, flying close air support missions for coalition ground forces. He later joined XV (R) Squadron as a Qualified Pilot and Tactics Instructor, and then Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) Training Unit with 100 Squadron at RAF Leeming.

Flt Lt Cunningham was selected to fly for the RAF Aerobatic Team in 2010, which was described by his family as 'the pinnacle of his career'. He flew for his first year as Red 3, but this year trained as Red 5. He played a key role in mentoring and helping to train new pilots.

Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, described Flt Lt Cunningham as 'a gifted pilot who served his country with honour and distinction throughout his career in the Royal Air Force.'

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Dates in History

German forces cross the Somme River

24th March 1918

On March 24, 1918, German forces cross the Somme River, achieving their first goal of the major spring offensive begun three days earlier on the Western Front. Operation Michael, engineered by the German chief of the general staff, Erich von Ludendorff, aimed to decisively break through the Allied lines on the Western Front and destroy the British and French forces. The offensive began on the morning of March 21, 1918, with an aggressive bombardment. The brunt of the attack that followed was directed at the British 5th Army, commanded by General Sir Hubert Gough, stationed along the Somme River in northwestern France. This section was the most poorly defended of any spot on the British lines, due to the fact that it had been held by the French until only a few weeks before and its defensive positions were not yet fully fortified. Panic spread up and down the British lines of command, intensified by communications failures between Gough and his subordinates in the field, and German gains increased over the subsequent days of battle. On March 23, Crown Prince Rupprecht, on the German side of the line, remarked that The progress of our offensive is so quick, that one cannot follow it with a pen. The next day, German troops stormed across the Somme, having previously captured its bridges before French troops could destroy them. Despite having resolved to concentrate on weaker points of the enemy lines, Ludendorff continued to throw his armies against the crucial villages of Amiens (a railway junction) and Arras—which the British and French were instructed to hold at all costs—hoping to break through and push on towards Paris. By that time, German troops were exhausted, and transportation and supply lines had begun to break down in the cold and bad weather. Meanwhile, Allied forces had recovered from the initial disadvantage and had begun to gain the upper hand, halting the Germans at Moreuil Wood on March 30. On April 5, Ludendorff called off Operation Michael. It had yielded nearly 40 miles of territory, the greatest gains for either side on the Western Front since 1914. He would launch four more offensive pushes over the course of the spring and summer, throwing all of the German army’s resources into this last, desperate attempt to win the war. (www.history.com)

Further Reading

The Somme
(Paperback - 355 pages)
by Richard van Emden

The offensive on the Somme took place between July and November 1916 and is perhaps the most iconic battle of the Great War. It was there that Kitchener’s famous ‘Pals’ Battalions were first sent into action en masse and it was a battlefield where many of the dreams and aspirations… Read more at Pen & Sword...

Only £14.99 at Pen & Sword Books.

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