Pegasus Battlefield Tours

06/09/2024

On 20 August 1944 Klaus Barbie ordered the murder of 120 French Resistants held at Montluc Prison in Lyon. They were brought to this place, an old abandoned fort, executed and then set on fire locked in the old guardhouse. This place tears at your emotions

08/08/2024

It will be a crying shame when the silhouttes leave British Normandy Memorial at the end of August. Please try to get to see it before it leaves. At least the two nurses will remain. Maybe a petition to keep all the silhouettes here???

03/08/2024

SOE B2 Wireless Set used in Caen area in currently on display in Putanges-Le-Lac in Normandy. With the 80th Anniversary of the closing of the Falaise Gap this month we have a display in the Lion Verd Hotel. Drop by for a coffee and take a look - it's free entry to the temporary exhibition by the Combined Military Services Museum

26/07/2024

Two short videos here - PART 1: French Resistance & hideouts in Normandy. This is the barn where 3 resistants hid during 1943/44 and also some downed airmen found refuge here. Parachuted equipment was stored nearby. A dangerous place to be...if found the consequences were brutal and often fatal.
PART 2: French Resistance & hideouts in Normandy. This is the cave where arms, sabotage materiel, communication equipment and general supplies were hidden during 1943/44 in readiness for Operation Turtle to disrupt the roads behind lines to the beachhead

OK...for some reason Part 1 is the second of the two videos...

26/07/2024

If you are looking for somewhere great to stay in Normandy we have recently linked up with Le Lion Verd in Putanges-Le-Lac. It's about an hour drive through the Normandy Bocage to the landing beaches and perfect for exploring Normandy 'Beyond D-Day'. 15 minutes from Falaise. There is currently a good little exhibition of and artefacts at the hotel which is free to view and exhibited by Combined Military Services Museum. Contact me if you would like any further information.

23/07/2024

Must watch this series again...a classic.

World War One broke out on 28 July, 1914. Fifty years later, one of the German soldiers, Stefan Westmann, told the BBC about his experiences fighting in the conflict.

05/07/2024

Some nice pieces I acquired in France this week. Original French Resistance medals with a silver Cross of Lorraine and Colonel Passy/André Dewarin's memoirs of General De Gaulle's London Intelligence Office during the war. Nothing rare but adds to the little collection

29/06/2024

An interesting plaque I found in the centre of Nuremberg yesterday evening. Was this put up whilst the Soviets were still holding PoWs into the 1950s I wonder? WE THINK OF OUR PRISONERS OF WAR WHO HAVE NOT YET RETURNED AND OF OUR MISSING - THE CITY OF NUREMBERG 1952. Also a monument for the Sinti and Roma who were deported during WW2 and photos of the Zeppelin Field where the NSDAP rallies were held during the 1930s and medieval Nuremberg.

03/06/2024

Nice piece on Pegasus Bridge including old interviews with John Howard and German Hans von Luck - Ham n Jam!!

Eighty years ago on 6 June, the largest land, air and naval operation in history was unleashed. In 1984, the man who led the mission gave an extraordinary account to the BBC.

26/05/2024

Been out in the field continuing the research for my next book today. Some fantastic spots - plenty to write about here - and this was only a few of the sites!!

08/05/2024

VE-Day and today we did Operation Cobra in Normandy from the west of St-Lo to Avranches. One photo is the approach through the hedgerows into Marigny as fought through by the US 1st Infantry Division - this is one reason why many of the church towers in Normandy were shot to bits. Other photos of Marigny German War Cemetery, bust of General Patton in Avranches, viewpoint over the start line of Cobra where General McNair was killed and the difficult hedgerow terrain..

06/05/2024

Today I witnessed the art installation of just under 1500 silhouettes at the British Normandy Memorial
at Gold Beach in Normandy (1475 to be accurate). These will be here until August and is a must see! One of the most moving exhibits I've ever seen in Normandy A short video and some pics. Apologies for video quality...

06/05/2024

At Omaha Beach today I placed a cross at a monument few people ever bother to look at but to me is very important. The monument is for Jean Roger Sainteny part of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade's Alliance Resistance Network. He was also part of various other resistance networks. I attended many ceremonies here with my late great friend Jacques Fourcade, Marie-Madeleine's son. Also named are two locals from the village of Vierville-sur-Mer who were shot by the SD/Gestapo in Caen Prison on and are known among the 81 Martyrs of Caen - their bodies have never been found

03/05/2024

Today I'm visiting a friend's house 100 yards or so away from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Tilly-sur-Seulles so I thought I'd take a little time to sit, contemplate and listen to the little birds chirping in the trees. Beautiful coutryside just 10 miles south of Bayeux in Normandy but an area of utter destruction nearly 80 years ago. If anyone is planning on going to Normandy in the future please take time to visit this cemetery.

30/04/2024

Temporary Canadian graves in the Place Fontaine Borne in Falaise. These soldiers are now buried in the Cemetery at Bretteville-sur-Laize.

17/04/2024

Hohenschonhausen Stasi Prison in Berlin. These cells were in the basement in an area known as the U-Boat. Recollections from the prisoners are brutal-both physically and psychologically. Spent a whole day here today and feeling numb this evening. Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen

11/04/2024

I love the way the Australians just say it how it is. RIP Private Rae. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Villers-Bretonneux. Sky News Australia

08/04/2024

Last day of the 5 Day Canadian Battlefield Tour around Vimy Ridge visiting trenches, tunnels and memorials. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Lichfield Crater is where L/Sgt Ellis Sifton VC is buried. KIA leading his men into an enemy trench system to knock out a machine gun position on day one of the battle of Vimy Ridge.

06/04/2024

Some “LIVE” action on the battlefield near Vimy Ridge today 💥💥💥

06/04/2024

Day 4 of our current Canadian Battlefield Tour was spent on The Somme with shots here of Newfoundland Park bathed in sunshine. Thiepval always impresses and I’m sometimes jealous of the awe it inspires when my groups see it for the first time!

05/04/2024

Green Beach at Pourville during the Dieppe Raid of 1942. This is the scene of Colonel Merritt’s Victoria Cross action and also of Monet’s earlier painting

04/04/2024

During our 5-day Canadian Battlefield Tour we visit the Abbaye d’Ardenne in Normandy where at least 20 soldiers were executed by the SS on 7 June 1944. Hastily buried in the rear garden of the Abbey they were later found and given a proper burial in the ⁦‪Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Bretteville-sur-Laize. The last couple of days we have moved from Juno Beach through the Canadian inland battlefields. Today we head to Dieppe.

01/04/2024

Hard to say but could this be a Then and Now of my book cover? I took this photo on Eastoke Beach today directly opposite Lumps Fort where the Cockleshell Heroes trained and I know this photo was taken there so…???

01/04/2024

Portsmouth Garrison Church was hit by a German incendiary attack in 1941 and never rebuilt but kept as a memorial and has some fantastic stained glass. I’m always sailing past it but thought I’d stop and have a better look today. Also went to the CWGC Royal Naval Memorial just up the road where the names of over 23,000 from ww1 and ww2 are listed.

29/03/2024

Very proud to have been officially appointed a Trustee of the Combined Military Services Museum this week. The CMSM is in Maldon, Essex and houses over 8000 artefacts covering nearly 4000 years of military history - primarily WW2 - which is where I come in! Please make time for a visit this summer to see for yourself the incredible collection.

23/03/2024

Day 5 of our UK SOE & Resistance Tour and we moved through Essex and Suffolk. We started at Great Baddow and the only surviving intact Chain Home Radar Mast and then to the excellent Combined Military Services Museum at Maldon Essex with the extensive SOE collection. We then drove up to Bury St Edmunds and visited the Rougham Control Tower Aviation Museum which was a bit of a deviation from SOE but topical because of the current Masters of the Air TV show. This is an excellent little museum with an abundance of artefacts and stories of the airmen that served there. This is where we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, driving past RAF Newmarket where 138 and 161 Special Duties Squadrons were formed back in 1940/41. A quite fascinating tour this week with many highlights and never to be forgotten. Thanks to everyone in the group who made it so special.

22/03/2024

Day 4 of our SOE Tour visited Tangmere Military Aviation Museum where SOE and Resistance agents flew from. Tangmere Cottage and Bignor Manor where they spent their final hours before deployment and then on to Runnymede for the Royal Air Force Memorial. A brilliant day. See photo captions. Tangmere Military Aviation Museum

22/03/2024

Newspaper article regarding our ceremony at Lepe Beach on Wednesday.

A D-Day veteran has returned to the spot from where he embarked on the historic landings in the summer of 1944.

21/03/2024

Day 3 on our UK SOE tour was very moving indeed. First we went to Beaulieu, home of the SOE Finishing Schools where nearly 3000 agents were trained for deployment into occupied territories. An excellent small museum with exhibits loaned from Harrington Aviation Museum and the SOE Memorial within the Abbey. We then went the short distance to Lepe Beach to meet an old friend of mine, 100 year old veteran Trooper Cecil Newton for a ceremony at the memorial of his unit the 4/7 Royal Dragoon Guards. Cecil was on fine form leading the service in his own inimitable way and solemnly reading the names of the 125 men who never returned - many of whom he knew and a few who were his very close friends. A very moving experience and we were delighted to be joined by Lady Drummond who's estate the memorial is on. Her late husband refused to allow the government to remove the D-Day engineering works after the war and these are some of the only remnants that remain from those times. See the photo captions. A remarkable place and an even more remarkable day.