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I have always been passionate about history, archaeology, geography and travel. So naturally, being a battlefield guide is absolutely my ideal job. I began guiding whilst I was studying archaeology in the 1980s, conducting tours around various British archaeological sites of all periods. In 2009, I progressed onto guided town walks, fundraising for charity. Since 2012, I have operated Robin’s Red Ramble Tours. I now specialise in leading battlefield tours in Normandy.

I firmly believe that a guide must only conduct tours in areas for which they have a deep local knowledge of the history, archaeology and topography. For this reason I spend a considerable amount of my time investigating the archives, studying the primary sources and researching all of my tours. This may involve translating documents and carrying out additional archaeological fieldwork myself. I thoroughly enjoy the thrill of uncovering new or forgotten pieces of the jigsaw, especially if there is a new or interesting personal story to tell. I have been specifically researching the Battle of Normandy and the ‘Atlantic Wall’ fortifications since 1999. I have now accumulated a wealth of material both published and unpublished which has now filled my home!

As I am constantly researching new material, all of my tours are unique. I endeavour to make my tours as personal and tailored to the individual clients as possible. Whilst this can be a challenge at times, I do believe the individual’s personal story must be told. It is always worth the extra effort to tell ‘His Story’ both accurately and completely, fitting it into the overall context of the battle or campaign.

I hold a full UK class D coach driving licence. I have experience with groups both large and small. I actually enjoy driving minibuses, coaches and double-deck buses. I try to ensure my passengers have the best possible experience on their journey. I like to give them the smoothest and most enjoyable ride that I can and I always go that extra mile.

John Cotterill is a self employed battlefield guide for families ,military groups, veterans, civilian clubs, individuals and schools. He was a founder member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides in 2003, was badged in 2004 (Badge 10) and was a Guild validator for 15 years. He became a Fellow of the Guild in 2025. John served as a regular officer in the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment and their successors the Mercian Regiment for 37 years. He saw active service in Ulster, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan and inactive service on four continents. He lives in Nottingham and is an active member of the Western Front Association, the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmans Families Association (SSAFA) and his Regimental Association. John’s particular specialities are taking families to retrace the steps of their Great War or WW2 ancestors and, for military groups, writing and delivering problem solving exercises that allow participants to “re-fight” battles of the past. He has guided groups on battlefields from Tanzania to Tunisia and from Stalingrad to Singapore.

My interest in military aviation and military history started many years ago and, by the age of 12, I knew that I was going to join the RAF; this dream was realised in 1981. My RAF experience included 17 years on the Boeing Sentry AWACS, with operational flying in the Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.

I left the RAF in 2009 to become a full-time Battlefield Guide. I completed the International Guild of Battlefield Guides validation programme in November 2011 and hold Badge No 52.

I visit Second World War battlefields, with a particular interest in Normandy, including the D-Day beaches, the airborne operations, and the frequently neglected fighting inland, which led to the crossing of the Seine in late August 1944. I also visit the campaigns across Northwest Europe to the 1945 battles on and across the Rhine. I have also led tours to Salerno, Cassino and Crete.

Having spent so long in the air environment, I have a huge interest in the air war and I have led tours to sites related to the Great War in the air, Fighter Command, the Combined Bomber Offensive and the German secret weapons programmes.

An interest in the Air War naturally leads to the subject of National Socialist Germany. I have taken groups to many sites in Hitler’s Germany, from the development and deployment of the V-Weapons, through the concentration camp and forced labour systems to the Final Solution. It is a difficult but important subject.

And Germany, of course, leads to an interest in Berlin. I never served in Berlin – but I am an old Cold Warrior!

For most of my adult life, I have been a traveller and my favourite locations are those where major historical events have taken place. I have travelled widely in India and this led to a deep interest in the history of Great Britain’s involvement in that country. I have led groups looking at the story of the Indian Corps on the Western Front.

For over three decades Frank has had a successful career within the creative industry as a designer and creative director.

During that time, Frank also served 10 years in the 70 (Essex Yeomanry) Signal Squadron, part of 71st (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment (V), and had the distinction of having been the youngest qualified tradesman in the regiment by 12 months, at the age of 19.

Frank’s interest in battlefield guiding came from his father who served in BAOR and grandfathers who fought in WW2 – one in the Royal Artillery on the Western Front and the other in the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.

Frank has been battlefield guiding since 2006, specialising in Waterloo, the Great War, WW2 and more recently, Berlin, where in 2019 he was licensed to guide at the Sachsenhausen Memorial.

He also played an active role within the Guild and has held several positions on Council, including Members’ Representative, Brand Manager and Guild Secretary. 

In 2011 he was proud to be the first recipient of the Richard Holmes Memorial Award for Services to the Guild.

Frank is also a member of the Essex Yeomanry Association and a Life member of the Royal Signals Association.

I was born and brought up in Jersey, Channel Islands and from an early age became passionate about its history as well as military history generally.

One of my grandfathers had wartime service with the Canadian Infantry on the Western Front in WW1 and the other was a career soldier with the Royal Army Service Corps from the 1920s to 1950. My paternal great-grandfather had also served with the Royal Garrison Artillery for 21 years including the whole of WW1 on the Western Front. My father, whilst not joining up, did an apprenticeship at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal in the 1950s, a very interesting time in post war weapons systems development. It is hardly surprising that military history would help form my interests and I even contemplated a military career myself. However, that didn’t happen, and I followed a career as a lawyer for 35 years.

I got into guiding accidentally as a result of our law firm entertaining some visiting conference lawyers on a coach tour. I thought that the “pre-taped” commentary was so bad that I grabbed the microphone and gave my first guided tour! I was hooked and did tours whenever I could and upon retirement from my legal career, I set up my guiding business and at the same time became a licensed public service vehicle driver so I could legally undertake driver-guiding.

I focus on providing personal service for small groups as a driver-guide, although I am happy to guide larger parties. I believe in providing a complete experience to my clients to help them get the best of their exploration of a battlefield and the local environment. I love drawing in other aspects of history, as well as introducing disciplines like archaeology and geology to better understand the topography.

Most of my guiding is in the Channel Islands, which have an incredible history of battles, military history and fortifications extending as far back as at least the Iron Age, then all the way to WW2, when the Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by Nazi German forces for 5 years. However, I also guide elsewhere in Europe, particularly in France which is only about 15 miles away at its closest and which I can see from my garden!

I particularly enjoy the educational element of battlefield guiding – be it for individual clients, a class of school children or a military unit undertaking battlefield study exercises for visiting military units. My mother was a teacher, so I suppose that is where I get that from!

Finally, whilst not yet published, my research will hopefully result in books on the Hundred Years’ War in the Channel Islands; an answer to why the Channel Islands become some of the most heavily Nazi fortified places in Europe; and the life story of an extraordinary pair of sisters who served on the Western Front as F.A.N.Y.s in WW1 and then as senior officers working with the S.O.E. in WW2!