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I am a freelance guide, historian and heritage professional. After retiring following ten years in the army as a Royal Artillery Officer, I became increasingly involved in interpreting and presenting battlefield heritage for the Battlefields Trust and The Royal British Legion. My interest in battlefield touring was triggered by noticing that the part of Germany in which we were training in the 1980s had been a battlefield in 1757. I had always been interested in military history and both my father and grandfather had fought in the world wars.

As a guide, my clients include  small and large groups, businesses as well as educational and military groups. I was an early supporter of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and been part of its validation team, responsible for assessing guides’ competence, since 2008. I instruct on courses teaching battlefield guides and have been Guide Co-ordinator for the Liberation Route Europe.

In 2012 I was elected to the British Commission for Military History. My published work includes two books on D Day and Normandy, chapters in British Army Guide to the Western Front, and articles in military history journals. I write a military history blog https://theobservationpost.com

My interest and knowledge of military history stretches from Caesar to the Cold War and my guiding experience covers much of Europe. Besides the world wars and the Napoleonic era, I am also interested in the mid C19th wars between Prussia, Austria and France and the Severn Years War.

Two of my books are on artillery in Normandy and I am currently writing a battlefield guide to artillery on the First Day of the Somme in publication. The artillery story of both world wars is a little neglected and I offer battlefield tours to tell the artillery story under the brand www.gunnertours.com

One speciality is providing military background for people researching their ancestry. I have been a researcher for a company that makes a popular ancestry-based TV programme and have appeared on television myself.

I have been privileged to support some of the British Army centenary staff rides as a subject matter expert alongside academic historians. My clients include many military units and headquarters. I run a website offering advice to military units planning staff rides, battlefield studies or realities of war tours. www.staffrideservices.com

The links between military and business strategy fascinate me. I offer a service to help organisations to learn from other people’s mistakes using examples from statecraft and military history. www.businessbattlefields.com

I chaired the Battlefields Trust from 2008-2015 and was involved in many projects to preserve, interpret and present many of the Battlefields of Britain, including the re-discovery of the battlefields of Bosworth.

Simon was an infantry officer for over 30 years.  A member of the Royal Anglian Regiment, he served on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.  He has a Bachelor’s Degree in History, Master’s Degree in Military Studies and is a Graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff Course.

His fascination with battlefield touring began in 1977, when living in Germany he went to see the film a Bridge Too Far.  Then persuaded his father, a Royal Air Force officer, to take him to Arnhem to try and bring to life what he had just seen.  An interest which further developed as student, studying for a History Degree at Portsmouth Polytechnic.  Where he organised his first Battlefield Tour, a trip with student friends to Normandy.  He was lucky his military career allowed him to indulge this passion, taking him on numerous Battlefield Tours and Staff Rides, In Europe, America, and as far afield as Vietnam and the Falkland Islands.

Retirement from the Army has allowed Simon to finally focus on battlefield touring.  Sharing his passion with others, and aiming to bring to life the battlefield through the experience of the individuals involved, coloured by his own experience as soldier.

Dudley Giles has been an active battlefield guide for over 25 years and was an early member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.

A former British Army officer, Dudley managed, in a career spanning nearly 34 years, to serve a third of his time in North West Europe (Germany and Belgium), a third in the UK (including three residential tours in Northern Ireland) and a third in ‘exotic’ locations such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Canada, Croatia, Kosovo and the flanks of NATO (Norway and Turkey). In 1990 he attended the Army Command and Staff Course, and, in 2001, was serving as NATO’s senior military police officer during the climactic events post 9/11. In 2006/7 he deployed to Afghanistan as General Richards’ senior police advisor and his last appointment in the Army before finally retiring in 2012 he was Deputy Provost Marshal (Army).

In 2006/7 Dudley found himself on the modern battlefields of Afghanistan and was able to help soldiers, diplomats and journalists understand the historical similarities between the present and past experience of British soldiers in that country. On his return he acted as the chief battlefield guide for the very first Help for Heroes Big Battlefield Bike Ride and continued to support the charity in that capacity until 2013. This experience eventually led him to set up a specialist touring company -‘Battlefields by Bike.

Dudley took his first degree in Law (LL.B (Hons) at the University of Leeds in 1979 and later a Masters Degree in British First World Studies (2010) – graduating with Distinction.

When not running his own tours or carrying out research, Dudley works as an independent contractor for schools, military groups, families and other battlefield touring companies.

I began exploring battlefields, castles and other defensive sites as a teenager. These early interests became a lifelong passion in understanding the past through battles as turning points in history and led to membership of the Guild and gaining qualification as an accredited member.

A full career in policing has trained me in a detective’s way to look for corroboration of facts. There’s a saying ‘never let facts get in the way of a good story’, however I believe the truth holds a more revealing narrative than a mere story. Revisiting the accepted course of events is a rewarding way to explore scenes of battle, encouraging discussion about accepted facts.

Graduating from the School of Ancient History and Archaeology, Leicester University in 2012, I have a familiarity with modern archaeological techniques. This enables me to explain how advances in scientific analysis may significantly add insight for battlefield tourists. An example of this has been scrutinising the recent revelations of King Richard III’s battle wounds and reassessing the conduct of the battle of Bosworth through field walking and geophysical surveys.

I have visited and studied a wide range of historical sites across the Mediterranean and Europe from ancient to modern eras. Organising private tours to interesting locations overseas and in the U.K. has become a real pleasure, providing additional research and discrete visits according to client needs.

As a local historian, I am a member of a variety of community based groups with interest in maintaining a living heritage, such as the Rutland Historical Society. My archaeological skills are maintained through field-walking, surveys and excavations with community archaeological teams and Leicester University.

Personal historical interests extend from Roman occupation of Britain through Saxon and Viking settlement to the Norman Conquest. I have particular knowledge of the English Civil War and an understanding of the Wars of the Roses with fresh interpretation of the end of medieval age with the defeat of Richard III.

I’m Joris Nieuwint, a battlefield guide from the Netherlands with a lifelong passion for World War II history. Since 2012, I’ve been guiding individuals, school groups, military units, and history buffs across the battlefields of Western Europe — from Arnhem and Nijmegen to Bastogne and the Hürtgen Forest. My main focus is Operation Market Garden, which took place right in my own backyard.

Growing up near the drop zones and crossing points of Market Garden, I developed an early fascination with the stories of those who fought here. Over the years, I’ve turned that passion into a profession, creating tours that mix storytelling with historical context, using maps, photos, and video to help bring the past to life.

In 2018, I joined the International Guild of Battlefield Guides and became an accredited guide in 2020, earning the David Chandler Award in the process. I also help with remembrance projects like the Stolpersteine in Veghel and take part in living history with the Screaming Ducks, portraying the 101st Airborne. On weekends, you might spot me in my WWII Dodge Weapons Carrier, still running strong.

Through my YouTube channel and virtual tours, I aim to make WWII history accessible to a wider audience — because the stories deserve to be remembered.

Mike is a freelance Battlefield Guide and Historian with over 30 years of military service in the Army Air Corps. Commissioned from the ranks, he has served on numerous operational tours on the ground and in the air, in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. Experience that informs his presentation of events on the battlefields that he leads tours to. Mike’s intent is always to give the battlefield visitor a 360 degree view of their chosen battle, while also presenting the battle from the soldier’s perspective – from the inside out.

Mike has been a Battlefield Guide since his early twenties, during this time he has had the good fortune to lead battlefield tours all over the world, to destinations ranging from from Berlin to Beersheba. Equally at home with a military or civilian audience he has experience leading tours and studies focused on medieval battles, the campaigns of Napoleon, the Great War, and the Second World War. Mike regularly works with Australian, American and British groups. His aviation background enables him to lead specialist tours focused on Airborne forces or the Air War of any period. Most recently he has worked with the US National WWII Museum, leading their Masters of the Air Tour around East Anglia and Southern England.

Author of several books on the Glider Pilot Regiment and the US Eighth Air Force Mike is a regular speaker at the National Army Museum in London, and the UK Army Flying Museum. He co-hosts ‘The Mighty Eighth Podcast’.

Advance Battlefield Tours mission Statement is: To create and deliver – private, corporate & school tours which will entertain, educate, inform, teach, to even test individuals or groups of any size, tailored to any level of complexity, with any style of accommodation, over any length of time.

Our tours are delivered with care, great flexibility, knowledge, clarity, understanding, humour & unbridled enthusiasm for client needs & subject matter!  Therefore we want you to “Smell that black powder & taste the cordite! “

Tim followed his family tradition and was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1974, where he served in every theatre upon which the regiment partook for nine years.

He has served for a total of 29 years.  After the “regular” army Tim continued with the Territorial Army; – (similar to the US National Guard), in The Queens Own Yeomanry (A cavalry regiment in the role of deep penetration, armoured reconnaissance) up to the appointment of Squadron Leader but later as a staff officer, second in command and training officer for other regiments.  His experiences in the military have included both operational command and staff appointments.

He been a member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides since 2007, and holds Badge number 71.  Widely experienced and well read, as a professional Battlefield Guide, Tim has led many dozens of tours across Western, Southern and Central Europe; (the majority, small business and personal tours) for 18 years.

New recent additions are the mystical secret Suffolk coast’s military heritage and the vast array of USAAF 8^th Air Force Bases across East Anglia with the “Masters of the Air” Series having been on Apple TV.

All these tours have consistently reviewed Politics, Strategic aims, Operational Requirements, Ego, Command, Control, Intelligence (Gathering, Interpretation, Analysis & Dissemination), Leadership, Morale, Training, Weaponry, Logistics, Ground and Conditions. Most of all, to ensure a clarity of message and understanding to the tour participants, no matter their previous knowledge.

Always keen to research something new, Tim welcomes the challenge of conducting new tours, for forgotten wars, to unsung places.

Brian Shaw is an Ex Warrant Officer in the Parachute Regiment who has been leading
battlefield tours for the past twenty years. Born in Nottingham in 1958 he joined the Army in
1974 as a Junior Soldier, progressing through a busy career specializing in Battlefield
Communications. Brian become a Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1995 and retired from the
Army in January 2013 after 38 years’ service.

Brian has had an extensive career serving across the globe, in Northern Ireland on operations
and from South Africa to the Arctic Circle and from California to Hong Kong, the long way
round, on training. This long Infantry experience and knowledge of tactics, give him a
soldier’s eye for ground and the implications of terrain on the weapon systems of any
chosen period.

Brian has a long-held interest in military history, particularly the Second World War. He
combines his own experiences and his knowledge of history to put his audience on a tour
within the experience of what the soldiers of the day saw, felt and experienced.
Whilst Brian’s passion is for the Second World War and specifically NW Europe 1944/45
(D–Day to the war’s end) but with a wide military history knowledge he is happy working with
groups on the battlefields of the Great War or others.

Brian has assisted in and personally planned and led tours on the Battle of Waterloo, The
Western Front, Gallipoli, France and Belgium 1940, Malta, the fighting in Normandy,
Operation Market–Garden, Aachen, the Hurtgen Forest, the Rhine Crossing (Plunder and
Varsity) and the Ardennes Offensive. Italy – Anzio and Cassino.

Allan served for 22 years in the Regular Army in the 17^th/21^st Lancers and Queens Royal Lancers, a career which ended at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle Gunnery School, Lulworth.  Allan was later commissioned into the TA serving for a further 9 years firstly with the Dorset and later the Royal Wessex Yeomanry in Bovington where he began guiding battlefield tours.

Allan’s first battlefield tour as a guide was for the Yeomanry to Normandy in 1999.  He has since guided nearly 200 battlefield tours for both Regular and Territorial Army units, schools and numerous adult groups to the Western Front, North West Europe plus other campaigns outside of the two World Wars including Waterloo and Agincourt.  Allan has guided many ANZAC focused tours of the Western Front, 1916-1918.  Allan retired from teaching to give himself the time to be an active Battlefield Guide and works freelance for several companies and organisations.  Allan also regularly gives talks on Military History to a wide variety of audiences from those including very senior serving officers to local groups in the Dorset area and wider afield.

Allan is an Accredited Member of (Badge Number 66) of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides and a current Validator for candidates on the Path to their own Badge.  He is a member of the Western Front Association, Royal Lancers Regimental Association and a Trustee for the Dorset Yeomanry Association.

Allan is an Alumnus of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover.  Whilst in the Army he studied and graduated through the Open University, later training as teacher at the University of Bath after which he taught History in a secondary school in Poole.  Allan was later appointed as the Headteacher of the Compass, the school responsible for providing Alternative Provision for young people in Weymouth, Dorset. Allan still lives in Weymouth with his wife Angela, who tolerates both his guiding and golf in exchange for holidays in the sun!  They have two grown up children.