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Explore the world’s most trusted directory of battlefield guides

The guide directory details all Guild Accredited Members. Each of these has passed our Accreditation Programme – so you can be sure they are all high quality guides and will give you a great tour!

You can filter by battle/campaign or country and then click on the name of an Accredited Guide to read their biography. Most Accredited Guides have contact details by which you can contact them directly. If not, or if you want to pass a message to them, please contact them via the Guild Secretary via our Contacts Page.

Many Guides can develop bespoke personalised tours and can research where particular ancestors might have fought or died. If you want to advice on following a particular ancestor and you have not identified a particular Accredited Guide, please contact the Guild Secretary. We guarantee we’ll have somebody that can help you!

Finally, this list shows only our Accredited Guides. Our Ordinary Members are not listed here and if you would like to check whether a particular individual is a member of the Guild, or for any other further help, please contact the Guild Secretary via our Contacts Page.

Battle

All American War of Independence[1]Post WWII[0]

Yugoslav Wars (1990s)[1]

Cornwall in the Civil War[1]Antiquity

Viking battles in Yorkshire[1]Roman Invasion of Britain[2]Roman Invasion of Germany[1]

Battle of Teutoberger Forest[1]

Middle Ages[10]

Poitiers[2]Edward I’s conquest of North Wales[2]Battle of Lewes[2]Bosworth[2]Agincourt[4]Towton[2]Crecy[3]Hastings Campaign[3]Norman Conquest of England[3]

Fulford[2]Stanford Bridge[3]Hastings[2]

The 100 Years War[6]

Sluys[1]Poitiers[1]

British Civil Wars[7]

Sedgemoor[1]The Boyne[1]Culloden[2]Owen Glendower's Revolt[1]Wars of the Roses[6]English Civil War[8]

Marston Moor[1]London in the Civil War[1]

Monmouth Rebellion[2]The Jacobite Rebellions[3]

Marlborough's campaigns[2]

Blenheim[1]Minden[1]

Napoleonic Wars[19]British Colonial Conflicts[3]

Boer War[2]American War of Independence[4]Seven Years' War[2]

Battle of Minden[3]

Anglo/Zulu War[4]

Isandlwana[1]Rorke's Drift[2]Eshowe[1]Gingindlovu[1]Hlobane[1]Ulundi[1]

Crimean War[2]American Civil War[3]

Bull Run[1]Antietam[1]Gettysburg[1]Monocacy[1]

Franco-Prussian War[1]Austro-Prussian War[1]

Koniggratz[1]

20th Century

Falklands War[2]First World War[51]Second World War[53]

Holocaust[2]Auschwitz[1]Fall of Berlin[9]Operation Amherst[2]Ardennes[13]Hürtgen Forest[3]Battle of the Bulge[14]Bastogne[7]Band of Brothers[3]Operation Dragoon[1]Ortona[1]Lorraine Campaign[1]Aachen[1]Combined Bomber Offensive[2]Battle of Overloon[1]Fall of France[9]Arras[5]Battle of Calais[5]UK Home Front[1]Operation Frankton[1]Monte Cassino[3]Cassino[11]German Airborne Invasion of Crete[1]The Great Patriotic War[1]

Eastern Front - Estonia[1]

Kursk[1]30 Corps[1]Operation Husky[4]Battle of Sicily[6]Dunkirk[13]Battle of Britain[2]Bruneval Raid[3]Dieppe[10]Operation Jubilee[5]Arnhem[25]Operation Market Garden[18]Eindhoven & Nijmegen[11]Operation Berlin[8]Operation Aintree[1]Gothic Line[3]Gustav Line[2]Battle of Halbe[2]Liberation of the Netherlands[8]London Blitz[2]Normandy Preparations in UK[5]D-Day[22]Operation Overlord[9]Normandy Landings[24]Normandy Campaign[9]Norway 1940 Campaign[3]Operation Sea Lion[1]The Siege of Malta[3]Operation Avalanche[3]Salerno[5]Operation Chariot[2]St Nazaire & Dieppe[3]Rhine Crossing[7]Operation Infatuate[3]Operation Blockbuster[3]Operation Veritable[6]Operation Plunder[5]Scheldt Estuary - Breskens Pocket & Walcheren[6]Operation Shingle[3]Battle of Anzio[7]Anzio[4]Reichswald Forest[4]Peenemunde[2]Krakow[1]

Cold War[9]Spanish Civil War[2]Oman[1]

John Cotterill

Accredited Guide Number: 10

John Cotterill is a self employed battlefield guide for military groups, veterans, civilian clubs, families, 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. 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 speciality is 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

Battles American War of Independence Crimean War Napoleon...Spanish Civil War WWI WWII

Countries Africa Asia Belgium...Denmark East Africa Eastern Europe Egypt England Europe France Germany Greece Holland Ireland Italy Malta Netherlands North Africa Norway Portugal Russia Scotland Singapore South-East Asia Spain Tunisia Ukraine United Kingdom Wales Western Europe

Caters For FamiliesIndividualsMilitary & Veteran...School Groups

Emailjohn.cotterill@btinternet.comTel.+44 7733 458 971Websitewww.cotterillbattlefields.co.uk

Des FitzGerald

Accredited Guide Number: 88

Des retired from the Army in 2015 after over 30 years of service. Initially enlisting and serving as a Gunner, he was commissioned into the Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters (later Mercian) Regiment. He is a self-employed Defence Consultant and was recently working on the STRIKE Brigade experiment, with a particular focus on Concepts and Doctrine. He is a student of the Advanced Command and Staff Course and has served in 1* and 2* Headquarters, as well as being the Chief Instructor of the Combined Arms Tactics Division. He has a MA in Defence Studies from Kings College London.

He has a keen interest in military history and is widely read. In particular, he enjoys visiting battlefields and has dragged his long-suffering wife over many of them. (Though still happily married she now refuses to follow him anymore.) He has led tours to the Crimea, Dublin, Italy and Normandy. He is now developing his expertise in the Napoleonic era. He has a particular interest in understanding how and why decisions were made; the impact of doctrine, terrain and organisational culture; as well as trying to relate the experience of the soldiers at the time.

Battles Crimean War WWI WWII

Countries Europe Russia

Caters For Adult Coach GroupsFamiliesIndividuals...Military & VeteranSchool GroupsSmall Groups

Emailinkerman95@btinternet.comTel.0044 7857 711767