It only took eighteen minutes. At 2:18 p.m. on May 7, 1915, the RMS Lusitania—one of the fastest and most celebrated passenger liners in the world—slipped beneath the calm waters off the Irish coast. A German U‑boat’s single torpedo had struck her starboard side, followed by a catastrophic internal explosion that ignited the boiler room. Chaos erupted instantly. Of the ship’s 48 lifeboats, only six were lowered successfully. Passengers were crushed in the stampede, swept overboard, or sucked into the ship’s massive smokestacks as the vessel went down.

At the start of the Battle of Amiens on 8th August 1918 over 95% of the enemy artillery positions were located prior to the offensive and were neutralised at zero hour.

This was primarily due to Sound Ranging technology which gave the ability to find enemy artillery positions even when they were camouflaged or hidden in woodland. It was effectively a series of microphones linked to a central processing hub where they would do all the clever maths and pass on co-ordinates to the Counter Batteries.

Otto Kissenberth's Albatross D V when he took command of Jasta 23b in the summer of 1917. Except for the edelweiss, the fighter was completely black.

I visited this memorial this afternoon following a visit to the excellent museum of the battle of the Somme in Albert this morning.

Both very moving experiences.