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Classic Battlefield Tours

Name: Classic Battlefield Tours
Address: Alton, GB
Telephone: +2039605302
Rating: 5

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Classic Battlefield Tours

Classic Battlefield Tours Travel experiences for military history enthusiasts who enjoy the finer things in life.

15/03/2025

A walking tour of the Battle of Alton

Guided by Warwick Louth

17th April 2025

This walking tour will explore the key sites of the battles, including St. Lawrence’s Church, which saw the bloody conclusion to the fight and still has musket holes in the church doors from that day.

This tour is led by the wonderful Warwick Louth, an engaging and knowledgeable speaker. As you tour through Alton, Warwick will bring to life this key battle.

The tour includes a guided tour of Alton, followed by lunch, including tea and coffee at the iconic Swan Hotel on Alton High Street, first mentioned in a rental document in 1499.

£95 per person

Follow this link to book: https://classicbattlefieldtours.com/tours/the-battle-of-alton/

14/03/2025

L129A1 Sharpshooter Rifle

The L129A1 is a 7.62×51mm NATO designated marksman rifle manufactured by Lewis Machine & Tool Company (LMT) for the British Armed Forces.
It is a part of LMT's Modular Weapon System (MWS) small arms family.

During the war in Afghanistan, British light infantry units sometimes found themselves outranged by small arms beyond the effective range of their assault rifles and light machine guns chambered for the intermediate 5.56 mm NATO cartridge. At ranges between 400 and 800 m (437 and 875 yd), the available small arms capable of returning effective fire were the general-purpose machine gun and the bolt-action sniper rifle. These weapons chambered for the fully-powered 7.62 mm NATO cartridge were not well-suited to increase the effective engagement range of the British eight-man rifle sections.

The LM308MWS was submitted for the British Ministry of Defence's Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) to immediately deploy a semi-automatic 7.62 NATO caliber sharpshooter rifle in Afghanistan. Other rifles submitted included the FN Herstal SCAR-H, Heckler & Koch HK417 , and Sabre Defence XR-10. LMT's rifle was chosen, earning it the L129A1 designation, and entering service in April 2010 in Afghanistan. One member (termed the "sharpshooter") of the British rifle sections was issued an L129A1 instead of an assault rifle.

The standard optic for the L129A1 is the TA648-308 6×48 Trijicon ACOG, providing an 8 mm exit pupil for ample light gathering and a wide field of view. Two locking bolts accessible from the right side of the receiver with a basic tool lock a barrel extension and make the barrel unit user removable within minutes with a return to zero of the same barrel. It features an 11.25 in (285.8 mm) twist rate to fire standard 144-grain 7.62 mm ball up to 168-grain BTHP ammunition used by NATO, but the official issue rounds are 155-grain L42A1-A3 sniper and L59A1 "High Performance" ball ammunition. The ACOG is mounted to a Picatinny rail to which is fitted a Trijicon RM01 1 x Ruggedized Miniature Reflex (RMR) for Close Quarters Battle use.

A Sniper Support Weapon (SSW) version, also designated L129A1, was adopted for use by the second man in each sniper team and is fitted with a Schmidt & Bender 3-12×50 telescopic sight and a Surefire suppressor.

Within the Royal Marines at least, an improved Modular Ambidextrous Rifle System (MARS-H) based L129A2 version chambered in 6.5 mm Creedmoor ( the change from 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition to 6.5 Creedmoor was due to the 6.5 Creedmoor's better ability to successfully engage targets at distances around and over 875 yards) with an 18 in (457 mm) barrel, a new Leupold scope, a HuxWrx suppressor, an Envision Technology ballistic calculator, and a Pixels-on-Target thermal sight was adopted in 2023.

13/03/2025

Battle of Tsushima

The Battle of Tsushima was the final naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 27–28 May 1905, in the Tsushima Strait. A devastating defeat for the Imperial Russian Navy, the battle was the only decisive engagement ever fought between modern steel battleship fleets and the first in which wireless telegraphy (radio) played a critically important role. The battle was described by contemporary Sir George Clarke[d] as "by far the greatest and the most important naval event since Trafalgar".

The battle involved the Japanese Combined Fleet under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Russian Second Pacific Squadron under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, which had sailed over seven months and 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 km) from the Baltic Sea. The Russians hoped to reach Vladivostok and establish naval control of the Far East to relieve the Imperial Russian Army in Manchuria. The Russian fleet had a large advantage in the number of battleships, but was overall older and slower than the Japanese fleet, and outnumbered nearly three to one in total hulls.

The Russians were sighted in the early morning on 27 May, and the battle began in the afternoon. Rozhestvensky was wounded and knocked unconscious in the initial action, and four of his battleships were sunk by sunset. At night, Japanese destroyers and torpedo boats attacked the remaining ships, and Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov surrendered on the morning of 28 May.

All 11 Russian battleships were lost, out of which seven were sunk and four captured. Only a few warships escaped, with one cruiser and two destroyers reaching Vladivostok, and two auxiliary cruisers as well as one transport escaping back to Madagascar. Three cruisers were interned at Manila by the United States until the war was over. Eight auxiliaries and one destroyer were disarmed and remanded at Shanghai by China. Russian casualties were high, with more than 5,000 dead and 6,000 captured. The Japanese, which had lost no heavy ships, had 117 dead.

The loss of almost every heavy warship of the Baltic Fleet forced Russia to sue for peace, and the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed in September 1905. In Japan, the battle was hailed as one of the greatest naval victories in Japanese history, and Admiral Tōgō was revered as a national hero.[e] His flagship, Mikasa, has been preserved as a museum ship in Yokosuka Harbour.

12/03/2025

Two-inch mortar

The Ordnance SBML two-inch mortar, or more commonly, just "two-inch mortar", was a British mortar issued to the British Army and the Commonwealth armies that saw use during the Second World War and later.

It was more portable than larger mortars and had greater range and firepower than rifle grenades. Its main purpose was to produce smoke for cover and through high trajectory and HE shell, engage targets "immune to small arms fire".

The two-inch mortar was one of several small mortars brought into service by European nations between the two World Wars.

Due to its small size and for simplicity, the mortar had no forward strut or bipod like larger designs needed. The barrel was held at the correct angle by one soldier while the other loaded and fired the round. The original design had a large base plate and sights for aiming, which used spirit levels. As the design matured, the baseplate became smaller, and the sights were omitted; aiming was by eye and relied on the firer's judgment and experience. With such a short barrel, the typical firing method where the bomb was dropped down the tube and a pin in the base of the barrel struck the detonator in the tail of the bomb would not work, so firing was by a small trigger mechanism at the breech.

The bombs were cylindrical with a (perforated) four-fin tail. For the HE projectile, an impact fuze was fitted in the nose of the bomb.
Postwar, the two-inch mortar was kept in service to fire smoke and illuminating rounds. It was replaced by the Royal Ordnance 51 mm infantry mortar in the late 1980s.

11/03/2025

Allen Dulles in WW2

Allen Welsh Dulles (April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was an American lawyer who was the first civilian director of central intelligence (DCI) and its longest-serving director.

Dulles was recruited into the Office of Strategic Services by William J. Donovan in October 1941. On November 12, 1942, he moved to Bern, Switzerland. As Swiss Director of the OSS, Dulles worked on intelligence about German plans and activities and established wide contacts with German émigrés, resistance figures, and anti-N**i intelligence officers. He was assisted in intelligence-gathering activities by Gero von Schulze-Gaevernitz, a German emigrant. Dulles also received valuable information from Fritz Kolbe, a German diplomat, one whom he described as the best spy of the war. Kolbe supplied secret documents about active German spies and plans for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

Dulles was in contact with the Austrian resistance group around the priest Heinrich Maier, who collected information through many different contacts with scientists and the military. From 1943 onward, he received very important information from this resistance group about V-1 and V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, and other aircraft and the related factories. This helped Allied bombers to target war-decisive armaments factories. In particular, Dulles had crucial information for Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra. The group reported to him about the mass murder in Auschwitz. Through the Maier Group and Kurt Grimm, Dulles also received information about the economic situation in the N**i sphere of influence. After the resistance group was uncovered by the Gestapo, Dulles sent American agents to Austria to contact any surviving members.

Although Washington barred Dulles from making firm commitments to the plotters of the July 20, 1944 attempt to assassinate Hi**er, the conspirators nonetheless gave him reports on developments in Germany, including sketchy but accurate warnings of plans for Hi**er's V-1 and V-2 missiles.

Dulles was involved in Operation Sunrise, secret negotiations in March 1945 to arrange a local surrender of German forces in northern Italy. His actions in Operation Sunrise have been criticized by historians for offering German SS General Karl Wolff protection from prosecution at the Nuremberg trial, and creating a diplomatic rift between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. After the war in Europe, Dulles served for six months as the OSS Berlin station chief and later as station chief in Bern. The Office of Strategic Services was dissolved in October 1945, and its functions were transferred to the State and War Departments.

10/03/2025

Tom Hunter (VC)

Thomas Peck Hunter VC (6 October 1923 – 3 April 1945) was a British recipient of the Victoria Cross.

Thomas Hunter was born at Louise Margaret Hospital in Aldershot on 6 October 1923, one of five children of Ramsey and Mary Hunter (a former soldier and civil servant), who moved to Edinburgh shortly after his birth.

At the outbreak of the war, he served in the Home Guard and was called up on 8 May 1942 for military service. He enlisted as a hostilities–only (HO) marine on 23 June 1942. He was promoted to LCpl on 6 October 1943 and Temporary Cpl on 25 January 1945.

Hunter was 21 years old and a temporary corporal in 43 (RM) Commando during the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy during the Second World War when the following incident took place. He was awarded the VC for his actions during Operation Roast.

On 2 April 1945, at Lake Comacchio, Italy, Corporal Hunter, who was in charge of a Bren gun section, offered himself as a target to save his troop. Seizing the Bren gun, he charged alone across 200 yards of open ground under the most intense fire towards a group of houses where three MG 42 machine guns were lodged. So determined was his charge that the enemy soldiers were demoralized, and six gunners surrendered. The remainder fled. Hunter cleared the house, changing magazines as he ran and continued to draw enemy fire until most of the troops had reached cover. Hunter was killed, firing accurately to the last. Danish national Major Anders Lassen of the Special Boat Service (SBS) was also awarded a VC posthumously in the same action.

King George VI presented his VC to his parents at a private investiture on 26 September 1945 at Holyrood House. In September 1974, his sister and nephew donated the medal to the Royal Marines Museum in Southsea, where all 10 Royal Marines VCs are securely stored. A copy of the medal on display there is also on display.

Hunter is buried at the Argenta Gap (CWGC) War Cemetery, Emilia-Romagna , in plot III.G.20. The Royal Marines treasure the memory of their only Second World War Victoria Cross recipient, and a number of buildings, memorials, and organisations are named after him.

09/03/2025

History of Hyde Park

The park's name comes from the Manor of Hyde, which appears in the Domesday Book. The name is believed to be of Saxon origin and means a unit of land. Through the Middle Ages, it was property of Westminster Abbey, until it was created for hunting by Henry Vlll in 1536 after he acquired the land from the Abbey. It was enclosed as a deer park and remained a private hunting ground until James I permitted limited access to gentlefolk, appointing a ranger to take charge.

Charles I created the Ring and in 1637, he opened the park to the general public. It quickly became a popular gathering place, particularly for May Day celebrations. At the start of the English Civil War in 1642, a series of fortifications were built along the east side of the park, including forts at what is now Marble Arch, Mount Street , and Hyde Park Corner. The latter included a strong point where visitors to London could be checked and vetted.

In 1652, during the Interregnum, Parliament ordered the then 620-acre park to be sold for "ready money". It realised £17,000 with an additional £765 6s 2d for the resident deer. Following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Charles II resumed ownership of Hyde Park and enclosed it with a brick wall. He restocked deer in what is now Buck Hill in Kensington Gardens. The May Day parade continued to be a popular event; Samuel Pepys took part in the park's celebrations in 1663 while attempting to gain the King's favour.

During the Great Plague of London in 1665, Hyde Park was used as a military camp.

In 1689, William III moved his residence to Kensington Palace and had a drive laid out across its southern edge, which was known as the King's Private Road. The drive is still in existence and now known as Rotten Row. It is believed to be the first road in London to be lit at night, which was done to deter highwaymen. In 1749, Horace Walpole was robbed while travelling through the park from Holland House. The row was used by the wealthy for riding in the early 19th century.

Hyde Park was a popular duelling spot during the 18th century, with 172 duels taking place, causing 63 deaths. Military executions were common at this time; John Rocque's Map of London, 1746, marks a point inside the park, close to the Tyburn gallows, as "where soldiers are shot."

Hyde Park hosted a Great Fair in the summer of 1814 to celebrate the Allied sovereigns' visit to England and exhibited various stalls and shows. The Battle of Trafalgar was re-enacted on the Serpentine, with a band playing the National Anthem while the French fleet sank into the lake.

Another significant event was the first Victoria Cross investiture, on 26 June 1857, when 62 men were decorated by Queen Victoria in the presence of Prince Albert and other members of the Royal Family.

08/03/2025

School Tour and Bringing History to Life

There is nothing more that brings history to life – and helps embed that history on the young brain – than visiting the places where it happened. This is particularly so in the case of the military events that have shaped our history.
Experiencing the trenches of World War I, walking amongst the WW II bunkers at Normandy, understanding how Wellington used the land at Waterloo to secure victory, or any number of sites in the UK from the Civil War to the Battle of Britain.

Classic Battlefield Tours has taken many school groups on this journey of discovery and has an enviable reputation for being able to deliver the entire experience with very little need for teaching staff to get bogged down in administration and logistics.

BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
There is nothing more that brings history to life – and helps embed that history on the young brain – than visiting the places where it happened. This is particularly so in the case of the military events which have shaped so much of our history.
Experiencing the trenches of World War I, or the walking amongst the WW II bunkers at Normandy; understanding how Wellington used the land at Waterloo to secure victory, or any number of sites in the UK from the Civil War to the Battle of Britain.
Classic Battlefield Tours has taken many school groups on this journey of discovery and has an enviable reputation for being able to deliver the entire experience with very little need for teaching staff to get bogged down in administration and logistics.

Supporting your every step:
Creating the right trip for you
A dedicated historical expert to help plan the perfect battlefield visits for you
Helping you promote the trip to pupils and parents
Easy-to-view online itinerary -support with fundraising

Once you have booked
We work on the finer and special details to make it easy for you
Support while you are away

After your trip
We’ll ask you for feedback, so we can improve our service and start planning the school’s next trip

Why Us?
Every tour is tailor-made
We are specialists in Military History, not a jack of all trades. We deliver expert guides to ensure your time spent on the Battlefield is the best that it can be.
Your safety is paramount
We undertake extensive risk assessments on all tours.
We are financially secure.
Our accreditations ensure your group and its money are in safe hands.
We make it easy
We know how busy you all are, so let us do the legwork.

For more details, follow this link: https://classicbattlefieldtours.com/tour-types/schools/

07/03/2025

Monsun Gruppe

The Gruppe Monsun or Monsoon Group was a force of German U-boats that operated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during World War II. Although similar naming conventions were used for temporary groupings of submarines in the Atlantic, the longer duration of Indian Ocean patrols caused the name to be permanently associated with the relatively small number of U-boats operating out of Penang (located on the northwest coast of the Malayian Peninsular). After 1944, the U-boats of the Monsun Gruppe were operationally placed under the authority of the Southeast Asia U-boat Region.

The Indian Ocean was the only place where German and Japanese forces fought in the same theatre. To avoid incidents between Germans and Japanese, attacks on other submarines were strictly forbidden. Altogether, 41 U-boats of all types, including transports, would be sent; many of these were lost, and only a small fraction returned to Europe.

The Indian Ocean was considered strategically important, containing India and the shipping routes and strategic raw materials that the British needed for the war effort. In the early years of the war, German merchant raiders and pocket battleships had sunk several merchant ships in the Indian Ocean; however, as the war progressed, it became more difficult for them to operate in the area. By 1942, most were either sunk or dispersed.

The idea of stationing U-boats in Malaya and the East Indies for operations in the Indian Ocean was first proposed by the Japanese in December 1942.

U-Boat U-511 carried the Japanese naval attache, Admiral Naokuni Nomura , from Berlin to Kure in Japan. This boat was given to Japan; its German crew returned to Penang to provide replacement personnel for the main submarine base being established at a former British seaplane station on the west coast of the Malayan Peninsula. A second base was established at Kobe; small repair bases were located at Singapore, Jakarta, and Surabaya.

With the base established, twelve submarines were assigned to the "Monsun Gruppe" and directed to proceed to Penang, patrolling along allied trade routes for the duration of their voyage. The group name reflected an intent; that the opening of the Indian Ocean U-boat campaign should coincide with the monsoon season.

Submarines attempting to reach Penang from Europe suffered heavy attrition, first from bombers in the Bay of Biscay, then from air patrols in the mid-Atlantic Narrows and around the Cape of Good Hope, and finally from allied submarines lurking around Penang with the aid of decrypted arrival and departure information.

Although operations from Penang had originally been envisioned as patrols along the trade routes while transporting strategic materials to Europe, many were turned back after allied patrols sank South Atlantic refueling assets.

Six boats remaining in Japanese territory were taken over by the Imperial Japanese Navy when Germany surrendered in 1945.

06/03/2025

Frank Merrill

Frank Dow Merrill (December 4, 1903 – December 11, 1955) was a United States Army general and is best remembered for his command of Merrill's Marauders, officially the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), in the Burma Campaign of World War II. Merrill's Marauders came under General Joseph Stilwell's Northern Combat Area Command. It was a special forces unit modelled on the Chindits' long-range pe*******on groups trained to operate from bases deep behind Japanese lines.

In 1943, General Merrill was appointed to command a new volunteer U.S. Army special forces unit patterned after the Long Range Jungle Pe*******on groups formed by the British to harass Japanese forces in Burma (the Chindits). The U.S. Army's official name for the unit was the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional). (The title provisional meant the unit was formed for a special mission or operation and would be disbanded afterwards.) After viewing the 5307th's performance on the firing ranges, visiting war correspondents promptly dubbed the unit Merrill's Marauders. General Merrill oversaw the training and deployment of the three battalions of the 5307th into Burma in February 1944.

In slightly more than five months of combat behind Japanese lines in Burma, the Marauders, who supported the X Force, advanced 750 miles through some of the harshest jungle terrain in the world, fought in five major engagements (Walawbum, Shaduzup, Inkangahtawng, Nhpum Ga, and Myitkyina) and engaged in combat with the Japanese Army on thirty-two occasions. Battling Japanese soldiers, hunger, and disease, they had traversed more jungle on their long-range patrols than any other U.S. Army unit of the war.

After the war's end, Merrill served in the Philippines. In early 1946, he was assigned to the headquarters of the 6th Army in San Francisco under General Stilwell. In May of the same year, Merrill and Stilwell led two Marine platoons to suppress a prison uprising at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in what is known as the Battle of Alcatraz.

05/03/2025

What was the 'Mischianza'?

The Mischianza (Italian for "medley" or "mixture"), was an elaborate fête given in honor of British General Sir William Howe in Philadelphia on May 18, 1778.

Howe, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in America during the early years of the Revolution, had resigned his post and was about to return to England. The ball was thrown by his corps of officers, who put up a sum of 3,312 guineas to pay for it. The events, which were planned by Captains John André and John Montresor and others, included a regatta along the Delaware River, accompanied by three musical bands and a 17-gun salute by British warships, a procession, a tournament of jousting knights, and a ball and banquet with a fireworks display.

The site was Walnut Grove, the mansion of Joseph Wharton. The crowd of over 400 guests included Admiral of the Fleet Richard Lord Howe, the general's brother; General Henry Clinton, commandant at New York and Howe's replacement; Peggy Shippen, future wife of Benedict Arnold; Peggy Chew, daughter of Benjamin Chew; Rebecca Franks, daughter of loyalist David Franks; Lord Cathcart; Banastre Tarleton; and Wilhelm von Knyphausen, a General of the Hessians, a mercenary unit of the German Military.

André, who was "social director" to the army in winter, was known as a poet, actor, etc. He was also well known as a competent violinist. As a stage director, he painted background scenes for plays produced by acting members of the English Army.

The picture is of the Mischianza ticket designed by Captain John André.

04/03/2025

William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe

William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC (10 August 1729 – 12 July 1814), was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three brothers who had distinguished military careers. In the historiography of the American war, he is usually referred to as Sir William Howe to distinguish him from his brother Richard, who was 4th Viscount Howe at that time.

Having joined the army in 1746, Howe saw extensive service in the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. He became known for his role in the capture of Quebec in 1759 when he led a British force to capture the cliffs at Anse-au-Foulon, allowing James Wolfe to land his army and engage the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Howe also participated in the campaigns to take Louisbourg, Belle Île , and Havana. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Wight, a post he held until 1795.

Howe was sent to North America in March 1775, arriving in May after the American War of Independence broke out. After leading British troops to a costly victory in the Battle of Bunker Hill, Howe took command of all British forces in America from Thomas Gage in September of that year. The successful capture of New York City and Philadelphia marked Howe's record in North America. However, poor campaign planning for 1777 contributed to the failure of John Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign, which played a major role in the entry of France into the war. Howe's role in developing those plans and the degree to which he was responsible for British failures that year (despite his success at Philadelphia) have both been subjects of contemporary and historic debate.

He was knighted after his successes in 1776. He resigned his post as Commander-in-Chief, British land forces in America, in 1777, and the next year returned to England, where he was at times active in the defence of the British Isles. He sat in the House of Commons from 1758 to 1780 for Nottingham. He inherited the Viscountcy of Howe upon the death of his brother Richard in 1799. He married but had no children, and the viscountcy became extinct with his death in 1814.

03/03/2025

Operation Collar (commando raid)

Four commando raids on the Pas-de-Calais department on the French coast, between the 24–25 June 1940 (just 20 days after the end of the Dunkirk evacuation).

After the British Expeditionary Force had been evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for a force to be assembled and equipped to inflict casualties on the Germans and bolster British morale.

In 1940, the call went out for volunteers from among the serving Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain, and men of the disbanding divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial Army divisions who had seen service in the Norwegian Campaign. By the autumn of 1940, more than 2,000 men had volunteered for commando training.

Having been selected to carry out the first commando raid on occupied France, No. 11 Independent Company was moved from its base in Scotland to the south coast British port of Southampton. The Royal Air Force (RAF) was approached for the use of four of its air sea rescue boats based at Dover, Ramsgate, and Newhaven.

The raid would be carried out by four groups. Each group would land on one of the target beaches at Neufchâtel-Hardelot, Stella Plage, Berck and Le Touquet. They were to spend no more than 80 minutes ashore before returning to their boats. The RAF boats were not equipped for a mission like this and lacked exact navigation equipment, and the compasses were known to be unreliable. Crossing the channel, they also came to the notice of patrolling RAF aircraft who, not being aware of the mission, came in close to investigate. At around 02:00 hours on 24 June 1940, the boats reached France and put their men ashore.

The group that landed at Le Touquet had the Merlimont Plage Hotel as an objective. Intelligence had suggested that the Germans were using the hotel as barracks. When the group reached the hotel, they discovered it was empty, and the doors and windows had been boarded up. Unable to find another target, they returned to the beach, only to discover their boat had put back out to sea. During the wait, two German sentries stumbled on the group and were quietly bayonetted. Another German patrol approached across the dunes, and the group was forced to swim out to the boat, leaving its weapons behind.

The group that landed at Hardelot penetrated several hundred yards inland and returned to its boat without meeting any Germans. The men that landed at Berck discovered a seaplane anchorage, but it was too heavily defended for them to risk an attack. The final group landed at Stella Plage under the command of Tod. It encountered a German patrol, and in the short exchange of fire that followed, one man was slightly wounded.

02/03/2025

Ronald Searle

Ronald William Fordham Searle CBE RDI (3 March 1920 – 30 December 2011 was an English artist and satirical cartoonist. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's School and for his collaboration with Geoffrey Willans on the Molesworth series.

In April 1939, he abandoned his art studies to enlist in the Royal Engineers. In January 1942, he was the RE in Singapore. After a month of fighting in Malaya, he was taken prisoner when Singapore fell to the Japanese. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner, first in Changi Prison and then in the Kwai jungle, working on the Siam-Burma Death Railway. Searle contracted both beriberi and malaria during his incarceration, which included numerous beatings, and his weight dropped to less than 40 kilograms.

Although Searle published the first St Trinian's cartoon in the magazine Lilliput in 1941, his professional career began with his documentation of the brutal camp conditions of his period as a prisoner-of-war in a series of drawings that he hid under the mattresses of prisoners dying of cholera. Searle recalled, "I desperately wanted to put down what was happening because I thought if by any chance there was a record, even if I died, someone might find it and know what went on." But Searle survived, along with approximately 300 of his drawings.

Liberated late in 1945, Searle returned to England, where he published several of the drawings in The Naked Island. Another of Searle's fellow prisoners later recounted, "If you can imagine something that weighs six stone or so, is on the point of death and has no qualities of the human condition that aren't revolting, calmly lying there with a pencil and a scrap of paper, drawing, you have some idea of the difference of temperament that this man had from the ordinary human being."

Most of these drawings appear in his 1986 book, Ronald Searle: To the Kwai and Back, War Drawings 1939–1945. In the book, Searle also wrote of his experiences as a prisoner, including the day he woke up to find a dead friend on either side of him and a live snake underneath his head:

You can’t have that sort of experience without it directing the rest of your life. I think that’s why I never really left my prison cell, because it gave me my measuring stick for the rest of my life... Basically, all the people we loved and knew and grew up with simply became fertiliser for the nearest bamboo.

At least one of his drawings is on display at the Changi Museum and Chapel, Singapore, but the majority of his originals are in the permanent collection of the Imperial War Museum, along with the works of other POW artists.

In 2002, additional war drawings by Searle were discovered in Melbourne, Australia. They depict the Australian soldier, Henry "Lofty" Cannon, who Searle credits with saving his life while they were prisoners of war. After the war, he served as a courtroom artist at the Nuremberg trials and later the Adolf Eichmann trial (1961).

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Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
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Sunday	9am - 12pm

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+2039605302

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http://www.classicbattlefieldtours.com/

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Videos

Royal Army Chaplains' Department The Army Chaplains' Department was formed by Royal Warrant of 23 September 1796; until then chaplains had been part of individual regiments, but not on the central establishment. Only Anglican chaplains were recruited until 1827, when Presbyterians were recognised, but not commissioned until 1858. Roman Catholic chaplains were recruited from 1836, Methodist chaplains from 1881, and Jewish chaplains from 1892. During the First World War some 4,400 Army Chaplains were recruited and 179 lost their lives on active service. The department received the "Royal" prefix in February 1919. During the Second World War another 96 British and 38 Commonwealth Army Chaplains lost their lives.

Martini–Henry Rifle The changes in military rifle taking place all over Europe during that second half of 19th Century took had left military planners both in Great Britain and Europe in a dilemma. The introduction of the Dreyse Pattern Needle Rifle in 1864 caused shockwaves and in effect an arms race, in an instant ,the Needle fire rifle had set about the accelerated development of the breech loading rifle as a weapon of choice in all the industrialised countries. The trend too, for smaller projectiles with a great ballistic accuracy and velocity were beginning to become the requirement. As a result the British Army produced the Martini–Henry, breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Martini–Henry variants were used throughout the British Empire for 47 years. It combined the dropping-block action first developed by Henry O. Peabody (in his Peabody rifle) and improved by the Swiss designer Friedrich von Martini, combined with the polygonal rifling designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry. Though the Snider was the first breechloader firing a metallic cartridge in regular British service, the Martini was designed from the outset as a breechloader and was both faster firing and had a longer range. There were four main marks of the Martini–Henry rifle produced: Mark I (released in June 1871), Mark II, Mark III, and Mark IV. There was also an 1877 carbine version with variations that included a Garrison Artillery Carbine, an Artillery Carbine (Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III), and smaller versions designed as training rifles for military cadets. The Mark IV Martini–Henry rifle ended production in 1889, replaced by the Lee–Metford, but it remained in service throughout the British Empire until the end of the First World War. It was seen in use by some Afghan tribesmen as late as the Soviet invasion. Early in 2010 and 2011

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Zoom talk with drone footage on 'The French Invasion of Britain in 1797' on Friday 5th February at 7.00pm by Patrick Mercer, OBE.

Some of the drone footage we will be using on our talk of the French invasion of 1797 and the Battle of Fishguard. Patrick will be speaking over this footage so that is why it is silence at the moment. It should be a very interesting talk on this little know invasion and not to be missed if you are interested in military history. The cost is £10 per person and do contact me on [email protected] if you are interested.

Anzio & Cassino Battlefield Tour

Patrick Mercer OBE talks about next years tour to the battlefield sites of Anzio and Cassino. Patrick has a personal interest in these battles as his father took part in the Italian Campaign. Do join us on what should be an informative and very interesting battlefield tour.

North West Campaign Tours 1944/45

Today we have our guide Brian Shaw talking about the North West Campaign tours 1944/45 for next year: • Battle of Aachen and Hurtgen Forest - November 2021 • Battle of the Bulge - December 2021 • Crossing the Rhine and the advance into Germany – 9th to 14th March 2021 • D Day and the battle of Normandy - 9th to 14th June 2021 • Operation Market Garden – 24th to 27th September 2021 In between these tours we are offering people to fire the weapons used in these battles and also to drive a German WW2 Marder III • Shooting bolt action rifles in the UK (Lee Enfields, Mausers, etc)– 30th June 2021, and 16th September 2021. • Shooting sub machine guns in France (Thompsons, Stens, etc) – May 2021 • Driving a Marder III German WW2 anti-tank self-propelled tank – 14th April 2021. If you are interested in any of these tours please email me on [email protected] or visit our website https://lnkd.in/ehU7Bsm

RAF & USAAF Tours

Today we have our guide Steve Smith talking about three tours for next year: Bomber command 8th USAAF The Bombing Campaign in Europe If you are interested in any of these tours please email me on [email protected] or visit our website www.classicbattlefieldtours.com

World War 2 RAF & USAAF Tours

English Civil War tour

English Civil War tour The second in our series of our guides discussing their tours is John Sadler talking about the English Civil War tour. John brings not only a well of knowledge to this tour, but makes the battlefield come alive in costume and weapons. One of the highlights of tour is Musket and Pike drill at the HAC in London, where you will be taught to defend yourself from a cavalry attack and the infantry tactics of the time. This tour is over 5 days from Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th April 2021, although subject to Covid-19 may be rearranged for latter in the year. For more details do visit our website www.classicbattlefieldtours.com or email James at [email protected].

Our guide Andrew White discussing the RFC & RAF WW1 tour

This is the first in a series of videos where our guides discuss their tour's. The first is Andrew White discussing the RFC & RAF tour which visits sites in both the UK and France/Belgium. This tour is over four days from Friday 30th April to Monday 3rd May 2021 or will be rearrange to a suitable date subject to Covid-19 restrictions. For more details do visit our website www.classicbattlefieldtours.com or email james at [email protected]