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Allan Wood

Accredited Guide Number: 66

Allan served for 22 years in the Regular Army in the 17th/21st 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.

Battles

Middle Ages100 Years War 1337-1453Crecy 1346Agincourt 141519th CenturyNapoleonic WarsWaterloo Campaign 1815Ligny 1815Quatre Bras 1815WaterlooWavre 1815First World War 1914-18Western Front Allies of WW1Soldiers of the British Empire WW1ANZACS on the Western FrontCanadians on the Western FrontMons 1914Retreat to the Marne 1914Battle of The Aisne 1914Western Front - Stalemate (1915)Neuve Chappelle 1915Aubers Ridge 1915Festubert 1915Loos 1915Western Front - Counterattack (1916)Battle of the Somme 1916Delville Wood 1916Fromelles 1916Verdun 1916Western Front - Attrition (1917)Hindenburg Line 1917Arras 1917Vimy Ridge 1917Bullecourt 1917Messines 1917Third Battle of Ypres 1917Passchendaele 1917Cambrai 1917Western Front - Defeat and Victory (1918)German Spring Offensive 1918Belleau Wood 1918Villers-Bretonneux 1918Le Hamel 1918The Last 100 Days 1918Battle of Amiens 1918Meuse-Argonne 1918St. Mihiel 1918Second World War 1939-45Occupation of Europe (1940)Fall of France 1940Arras 1940Dunkirk 1940Battle of Calais 1940WW2 Commando and other Raids in Occupied EuropeOperation Chariot - St Nazaire 1942Operation Jubilee - Dieppe 1942Liberation of Europe (1944)D-Day - Op Overlord 1944Normandy Campaign and breakout 1944Op Market Garden 1944 - Arnhem Eindhoven NijmegenArnhem 1944Eindhoven 1944Nijmegen 1944Liberation of the Netherlands 1944-45Battle of the Bulge 1944-5Cold War 1945-91

Countries

AsiaBelgiumEnglandFranceGermanyLuxembourgNetherlandsScotlandSouth-East AsiaThailandUnited KingdomWalesWestern Europe

Caters For

Adult Coach GroupsBattlefield StudiesBespoke GroupFamiliesIndividualsMilitary & VeteranSchool GroupsSmall GroupsStaff Rides

Areas of Expertise

Wars covered:

  • First World War: The Western Front 1914 to 1918
  • Second World War: North-Europe 1940 to 1945
  • Berlin and the Cold War 1945 to 1993
  • The 100 Years War
  • The War of the Seventh Coalition 1815

Areas of expertise:

The Western Front 1914 to 1918 including the following:

  • The Retreat from Mons from Mons to the Marne: including Mons, Le Cateau, Landrecies, Etreux, Moy de la Aisne.
  • The Ypres Salient 1914 to 1918
  • ‘The Forgotten Battles’ of 1915; including Neuve-Chappelle, Festubert, Aubers-Ridge, Loos
  • The Gallipoli Campaign 1915
  • The Somme 1916 and 1918
  • The Battle of Verdun 1916
  • ‘The Last 100 Days’ – Amiens to Mons
  • The ANZAC story on the Western Front 1916 to 1918
  • The Canadian story of the Great War
  • Cambrai 1917 and 1918
  • The Ludendorff Offensives
  • The Hindenburg Line 1918
  • Belleau Wood June 1918
  • The Meuse-Argonne Sept to Nov 1918
  • The role of Mounted Troops from 1914 to 1918 and the development of armoured warfare

The Second World War in North-West Europe including the following:

  • The Retreat to Dunkirk – May to June 1940 including The Arras Counter-Attack – 21 May, 1940 with specific expertise on the 12th Lancers role in the Retreat.
  • The Battle of Calais – May 1940.
  • Operation JUBILEE – The Dieppe Raid – 19th August 1942.
  • Operation CHARIOT – the Raid on St Nazaire March 28th, 1942.
  • Operation OVERLORD – The Normandy Campaign June to August 1944 with an in-depth knowledge of the armoured aspects of this Campaign.  This includes the Operation ‘Lüttich’ or Mortain Counter-attack by the Germans of 7th to 13th August 1944 and the closing of the ‘Falaise Pocket’ on 21st August.
  • Operation DRAGOON – The Allied Invasion of the South of France plus the campaign up the Rhone Valley to Montelimar and the Montelimar ‘Battle Box’.
  • Operation MARKET-GARDEN – The landings and drive toward Arnhem – September 1944
  • The Battle of the ‘Bulge’ – The Ardennes Battle December 1944 to February 1945
  • The German defence of the rivers in Northern Germany, The Leine and Aller.

Napoleon Bonaparte: The Last 100 Days including Waterloo, Ligny, Quatre-Bras and Wavre.

The 100 Years War: Crécy 1348 and Agincourt 1415

Berlin and the Cold War 1945 to 1993 including:

  • The Berlin Blockade and the story of the Air-lift 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1948.
  • The building and demolition of the Berlin War 13th August 1961 to 9th November 1989.

Other specialisms:

  • Delivery of talks or lectures on Military History
  • Research of the military history for families
  • The cap-badges of the British Army

Types of tours catered for:

  • Military of all styles: Staff Rides, Historical Interpretation, Syndicate discussion or standard guided tours
  • Veteran or Regimental Associations focussing on specific units
  • School Groups with whatever local or curriculum focus is required.
  • Adult groups of all types.
  • Small family groups and individual requests.
  • Significant experience for ANZAC focused groups, including The New Zealand Division in The First World War.