Exclusive: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard’s new £15m permanent display tells tales of courage from conflicts such as Crimean and both world wars

They tell tales of bravery under fire, may lead to conversations about the UK’s place in the world and could prompt visitors to reflect on what they might have done if faced with the same perilous circumstances.

All 10 Victoria Crosses (VCs) awarded to members of the Royal Marines are going on display together for the first time along with tales of courage during conflicts such as the Crimean and both world wars.

At the full-time whistle in the south coast derby, Tonda Eckert thrust his arms out wide and roared into the sky with the rest of the Southampton supporters. It had been a tense 90 minutes after a tense few months, but finally the young German coach could let it all out. At the end of a week where he found out that he will face no immediate ban for his part in the Spygate scandal that rocked the Championship last season, he helped deliver Southampton’s first home win over Portsmouth for 22 years.

Southampton played more than half of a fiercely contested game with 10 men after Cameron Bragg was sent off for a second yellow card on 44 minutes and Eckert was keen to divert credit elsewhere at full time. “I think that one today belongs to the players,” he said. “If you go a man down there’s not so much you can do as a manager outside of trying to give a structure that helps. It’s the players that dig out games like this.”