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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.

Simon qualified as a badged guide (Badge 108) in May 2020 and retired from the British Army in November 2022.

He originally served in the Royal Air Force before leaving to pursue a career in the oil industry, and also serving as a reserve officer. Rather to his surprise he ended up joining the Regular Army somewhat later in life than planned.

Simon has served on operations in Gulf War 1, Kosovo, Sierra Leone (as a United Nations Military Observer), Iraq (where he ran Basrah Fire Brigade) and twice as an aviation planner in Afghanistan (including a tour with the US Marine Corps). He has worked at battlegroup, brigade and divisional level.

He has served as the Operations Officer in the Attack Helicopter Force HQ, and as the aviation specialist in the Collective Training Group at the Land Warfare Centre. He has delivered training to brigade and division HQs, particularly in the use of aviation, air assault planning and air land integration.

Simon works for one of the major tour guide companies and regularly guides tours for military and school groups in Normandy, and the Western Front battles of WW1. He has also undertaken a number of direct engagements for military and other groups including HQ level staff rides.  He has guided Operation Market Garden and the Sicily landings.

He is particularly interested in Normandy in WW2 (particularly the British 6^th Airborne Division) and in all aspects of air power in WW1 and WW2.

He is also passionate about the American Civil War, particularly Gettysburg and the Eastern theatre battles.

I am Roel Dekkers, a retired officer of the Dutch army.

Since my youth, I have been interested in World War II, especially the battles in Europe.

During my time in the Dutch army, we used many examples from World War II during training and education, which further increased my interest.

I was given the opportunity to give battlefield tours to my own unit, and this gradually expanded.

In 2017, I became a member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides, and in 2018, I completed all my assessments and received my coveted battlefield badge.

My battlefield tour specialises in the British and Canadian operations during Operation Veritable, which began on 8 February 1945 in the Groesbeek/Nijmegen area.

I also have a special interest in the follow-up to this operation, Operation Blockbuster, which was carried out by the Canadians. Finally, I give tours about the Rhine crossing Operation Plunder and the airborne operation Varsity.

You can also join me on a tour of Market Garden, following the exploits of the 82nd US Airborne Division in the Nijmegen area and/or the 1st British Airborne Division in the Arnhem area.

Using extensive photographic material and maps, I will try to bring the story of the battle to life at various points of interest.

My tours are suitable for individual participants and groups of all ages, military veterans, active military personnel and staff rides.  If desired, I can also go into more detail about the achievements of a particular battalion that your ancestors may have been part of.

Other specialisms:

On special request of individual family members of mostly deceased veterans, I provide a special tour where their relative spent their time during the battle for the Rhineland.
I also provide tours for specific military units.

During the tour about Operation Veritable, we can delve deeper into the various divisions such as the 51st Highland Division, 15th Scottish Division or other British divisions. This also applies to the various regiments within such a division.

What applies to Operation Veritable also applies to the Canadian divisions and regiments during Operation Blockbuster.

I also give presentations to schools about the Second World War in general, special presentations about specific battles, and presentations about my efforts in crisis areas during my military career.

Michael’s interest in battlefields started whilst researching his great uncle, whose name was on the local war memorial in his home town. This took him on a long journey through the UK and France. He eventually found his grave in Belgium, bringing closure to a family mystery of over 80 years and allowing family members from as far as Australia to visit his grave and pay tribute to his memory.

This discovery led Michael into researching many battles and physically walking the ground enhancing his knowledge and understanding of tactics used on both sides. Armed with this knowledge, he began organising individual, group and bespoke tours to Ypres in Belgium, Normandy in France and Arnhem in Holland which he continues to this day.

As a former Warrant Officer, with over 38 years in the British Army, his operational tours included Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, and exercises in Canada, Cyprus, Kenya and Poland. He has worked with many multinational forces giving him a thorough understanding of how other countries’ militaries operate. He was employed in many roles in the training, administration and welfare of over a hundred strong workforce during peace time and on operations. He was often called upon to plan, conduct and deliver intense training packages for servicemen as part of their continuous personal development and annual mandatory training.

In 2010, Michael gave evidence as part of the Iraq Enquiry, headed up by Sir John Chilcot, regarding the problems incurred during Operation Telic.

In 2020, together with his wife Jane, he set up their company “Avalon Tour de Force” which specialises in family research, bespoke group and individual battlefield tours, military history presentations and living history shows where they travel to schools, public and private events.

Michael was awarded Badge No 117 after completing the Guild’s validation scheme in November 2024.

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’.

From a very early age, I have had a strong interest in history, and in particular military history – much to the bewilderment of my parents!  I continued this to University level, gaining a degree in History & Ancient History.

My interest was certainly not lessened by 37 years as an Army Reservist, serving in a wide variety of roles and under multiple cap badges – Infantry, Royal Signals, Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers.  With my last unit, I planned and delivered a Battlefield Study to the Great War battlefields of Mons, Ypres & the Somme.

My first experience of digging in to military archives was after my mother passed me the Aircrew Log Book belonging to her late brother, whose aircraft disappeared during an anti-submarine patrol over the Atlantic in February 1944.  70 years after his last flight I visited the Runnymede Memorial and found his name.

A little later, I decided to try and find out something about the men and women named on the War Memorial in Harrogate, the town where I grew up and still live.  I have been able to identify (and in many cases, put faces to) all but about 40 of the 1163 names, in addition to finding over 100 others who should have been included.  I was heavily involved in the exhibition and events to commemorate the Centenary of the unveiling of the Memorial on 1^st September 1923, including an interview on the ITV Evening News.

I joined the Guild in late 2022, and became an Accredited Member in January 2025.

I believe strongly in telling both the story of what happened on a battlefield, and also the stories of those who fought there.

In addition to being a member of the Guild, I am a local volunteer for the CWGC, conducting tours and talks locally.

I am a serving Army officer and qualified as a badged guide in May 2020.  I have served with the Household Cavalry both operationally and as a mounted cavalryman on state ceremonial and public duties, as well as working on the staff in the wider Army.  Military experience of the Middle East, Balkans and Afghanistan.

I have been visiting battlefields for many years and have led a number of small group tours, for military personnel, veterans and members of the general public.  Very interested in all matters involving the cavalry where I like to think I have a unique insight, as well as armoured operations where I also have significant practical knowledge.  I continue to develop and learn my craft, and I am currently studying for an MA in the History of Great Britain and the First World War.

Robert Shaw MSc is the Director of Corporate Battlefields and the Director of Events of the International Guild Of Battlefield Guides. He is also Communications Co-ordinator and editor of the Guild magazine “Despatches”.  Holding accredited Badge Number 106, his battlefield guiding experience includes the Romans and Vikings in Britain, the American Civil War, the English Civil War, the battles of Wellington and Napoleon, WW1, WW2 and the Cold War.  These tours have been conducted in the UK, the USA, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Sicily, Crete, Malta, Libya, the Baltic States, Poland and the Balkans.  Robert has over 30 years’ experience in various military, diplomatic, intelligence and corporate security fields.  He earned a Master’s degree in Global Security from Cranfield University and, in addition to running and guiding battlefield tours for schools, military units and private clients, he regularly contributes on military history, intelligence, counter proliferation and contemporary security and defence matters (including Russia, Iran, Korea and China).  Robert has taught at UCL on “network attack” and spoken as an SME on the BBC.  He has also provided historical and technical advice to Channel Four programmes such as ‘Toxic Wrecks’ and Apple’s “Masters of the Air”.

Bob has three children, enjoys mountain guiding, canoeing and teaches youth and adult groups survival and bushcraft, resistance and countering kidnap, escape and evasion, foreign culture workshops for businesses and mental resilience.

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!