Sophie's Great War Tours

22/06/2024

in 1941, the largest military invasion in history begins. Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union:

➡️took place across a 1,800 mile front
➡️involved 3 million German troops
➡️3,000 tanks
➡️3,000 aircraft

It would prove to be the beginning of the end for Hi**er.

18/06/2024

Two more happy customers. If we can help you too, please do get in touch today: [email protected]

16/06/2024

If you haven't already watched the new Netflix series 'Hi**er & the N***s, Evil on Trial, I would highly recommend it. Based around William Shirer's broadcasts and diaries, the programme goes from pre-Weimar to post 2WW using Nuremberg as the centre of the discussions. Great historians and unseen footage too as far as I can tell.

15/06/2024

New addition to the SGWT office.

14/06/2024

Back in Blighty after another couple of lovely days around Ypres & the Somme. Lots of laughs with my great guests & they enjoyed it so much, they are already booked for Waterloo in 2025.

14/06/2024

Watch out, bombs about!
This is a German egg gr***de, up by Hawthorne Crater.

11/06/2024

A lovely day around looking at those early actions of 1914 and doing some myth busting down at a certain memorial 🎄⚽️

07/06/2024

in 1917 the battle of Messines is launched. Meticulously planned, the surprise of 19 mines & great counter-battery work gave the Allies the best day of the war to date. This image shows captured German men. One of my favourite battles & locations to explore with guests

06/06/2024

80 years ago today, my Grandfather (left) makes it to Rome. He would go on to fight with the partisans and what he encountered would stay with him until his dying day.

06/06/2024

On this day 80 years ago - 150,000+ Allied troops made their way across rough seas, by plane & glider too, to commence the liberation of Europe. Today & I hope always, we will remember the supreme sacrifice so many thousands made.

03/06/2024

Another private tour out today, following in the footsteps of 3 soldiers. Paul will be leading this tour to Ypres, Lens and Cambrai.

The detailed research conducted and this personalised tour will allow the relatives to understand what each man went through and to pay their respects 100+ years later.

31/05/2024

The Ring of Remembrance at Notre-Dame-de-Lorett. Engraved are the names of 579,606 men who lost their lives in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais between 1914-1918. They are list alphabetically irrespective of nationality rank or religion.

31/05/2024

Today Sophie started at Neuville-St Vaast German War Cemetery, the largest German cemetery in France. This is the final resting place of 44,830 solders from the heavy fighting between 1914 – 1917.

29/05/2024

A slightly less soggy day on the Somme. Today our American guests spent the morning in Thiepval Woods. In the afternoon we looked at the mid July fighting through to September and October 1916.

28/05/2024

That bright day didn’t last alas. It’s been pouring down here on the Somme. We’ve soldiered on and made a few key stops to tell the 1st July story. Tomorrow we will pick up the rest of the campaign and look at allied progress. Bloody progress, but progress it was.

28/05/2024

A lovely morning in Arras and a view of the world famous Belfry from our accommodation. It was destroyed by German artillery but lovingly restored between 1927-1931.

27/05/2024

Sophie is on the Western Front for the next 10 days. With a couple of available days, please shout if you need a guide or you want to meet for a beer 🍻 🇧🇪 🇫🇷

27/05/2024

We have a group of four American guests starting their battlefield exploration with us today. First up, Normandy!

22/05/2024

As we go through the next few weeks, we’ll be crossing over many important moments from the 1982 Falklands War.

I’ll be showing you some of the locations that can be visited on tour and I hope to highlight the beauty of the landscape and the types of experience you can expect from this fascinating remote set of islands.

21/05/2024

OTD In 1982 - British Troops Land At San Carlos, Falkland Islands
https://tinyurl.com/2ya2cnd3

20/05/2024

Our next tour is out today with the ever excellent Steve Smith. We have two American guests exploring Ypres, Somme and Arras. These have been bucket list locations for a long time for our two explorers and we look forward to bringing the history to life.

16/05/2024

Back after another moving & memorable tour. We explored the landscape of Ypres, Villers Bret, Somme & Arras so that 100+ years later our guest could understand her relatives experiences. Both soldiers would never return home, but I hope we have done their stories justice.

15/05/2024

What do you see? A field in France or a key location for someone to consider their relatives service in the Battle of Arras 1917. I’m pleased to have been able to bring this spot to life.

14/05/2024

Another powerful day, this time in the fields surrounding Villers Bretonneux. Sidney was part of C Battery, targeted in counter battery fire and lost in these fields in 1918. He is commemorated at Pozieres Memorial to the Missing.

13/05/2024

An emotional day around the Salient following Private Hill of the Somerset Light Infantry. We looked at the ground he attacked across and held off fierce counter attacks. We got to the spot he was killed in Dec 1917 and then paid our respects at his graveside near Poperinge.

13/05/2024

As one fabulous tour ends, another starts. This week we are following two brothers across Ypres, Somme & Arras.
Maurice is buried in Poperinge, Sidney is commemorated at Poziers

08/05/2024

A wonderful two days on the Somme exploring positions of 1st, 7th, 14th & 23rd of July and then looking at how tactics evolved through September & October 1916.

We’ve also been following a German Regiment, helping our guests to understand their relatives war experience.

07/05/2024

I’m out this week with two lovely American servicemen exploring their ancestors participation in the Great War, this time from the other side of the wire!

It’s so important to discuss the German experience of war. When you read accounts of what they went through, it really was no different. They faced the same conditions as their enemy and millions of young men would never see home again.

30/04/2024

April 2024 - Battlefield Tours in Review. https://tinyurl.com/yck9esur

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As April draws to a close, we have time to reflect on the bespoke tours that Sophie’s Great War Tours has delivered this month. We were honoured to be chosen by Caitlin De Angelis, author of the phenomenal ‘The Gardeners’ to show her and her family around the Somme. Caitlin’s book is meticul...