Applied History 1944 Normandy campaign battlefield tours and staff rides

摘要

These articles look at the D-Day landings and the Normandy Campaign in terms of "applied history" - that is, the active study of these momentous military events through on site battlefield tours and staff rides. All three contributors are experienced battlefield tour guides and staff ride leaders: Stuart Thomson has led many battlefield tours for the British and South African Armed Forces; Mike Bechthold has quietly become one of Canada's leading battlefield tour guides, taking Canadians, military personnel and university students, around First and Second World War Canadian battlefields in Europe; and the third contributor, David Hall, has more than ten years experience leading battlefield tours and staff rides for NATO as well as the British, Canadian and American armed forces. The three short pieces that follow are some of their reflections on tours they have recently conducted. Thomson discusses the Normandy battlefield tour for officers on the British Advance Command and Staff Course. Bechthold shares his experiences on the Canadian Battlefields Foundation student study tours, and Hall looks at recent NATO and British Higher Command and Staff Course staff rides that he has led on the beaches and around the battlefields of Normandy.