Due to COVID19 this Tour has been postponed since 2020. Despite Omicron we have decided to go ahead and schedule it for 31 March to 4 April 2022.
Booking details are posted below and the cost will remain as it was for the 2020 Tour ie £800 with a £120 single supplement for the five day tour.
THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY, 1945
BACKGROUND
The second and final volume of the British Official History of the Second World War that covers the defeat of Germany concludes with a quotation from Sir Francis Drake: “There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it is thoroughly finished yields the true glory.” The Anglo-Canadian armies that contributed to Victory in the West have had their critics. But these citizen soldiers, devoid of any hint of fanatical zeal, demonstrated remarkable courage and fortitude to the very end and, to paraphrase General Sir David Fraser, “without histrionics … came to know its business.”
This Tour, in association with the British Commission for Military History, will take place between Thursday 31 March and Monday 4 April 2022. It will consider elements of Field Marshal Montgomery’s 21st Army Group in the major break-in battles in Germany of early 1945 through the Reichswald and across the Rhine. In the month between the end of February and the end of March, Anglo-Canadian soldiers fought some of the hardest and grimmest fights of the War, achieving all objectives and setting the conditions for the subsequent sweep across northern Germany to the Baltic and the Elbe and the German surrender on Lüneberg Heath.
ITINERARY
The Tour, over five days, will spend three full days on the ground, with hotel accommodation provided in central Nijmegen in the Netherlands. The itinerary, subject to confirmation, will cover:
- Thursday 31 March – Travel by coach from England to Nijmegen. Introductory talks and group dinner.
- Friday 1 April – Operation VERITABLE: 1st Canadian Army – II Canadian Corps and XXX British Corps and the Battle for the Reichswald.
- Saturday 2 April – Operation BLOCKBUSTER: II Canadian Corps and the Battle for the Hochwald Gap. Vist to the War Museum at Overloon.
- 2nd British Army – XII Corps and XXX Corps’ assault crossings of the Rhine.
- Sunday 3 April – Operations PLUNDER/VARSITY: The assault crossings of the Rhine – XII Corps, XXX Corps and XVIII US Airborne Corps.
- Monday 4 April – Return by coach to England.
Detailed timings will follow.
BOOKING
The Tour will be administered by Battle Honours Ltd, a highly regarded, ATOL protected company, well-known to many members. Guides, led by Brigadier Jim Tanner, will be provided in-house by BCMH. The cost of the Tour is £800.00 per person, which includes bed and breakfast and the group dinner on the first night, with a single room supplement of £120.00. The Tour can accommodate a maximum of 25 and is not restricted to BCMH members alone, although members have priority in booking until 31st January.
In order to book please click on the link below and follow the instructions to download the booking form and return it to Battle Honours.
BCMH 2022 Battlefield Tour - The Defeat of Germany 1945 (battle-honours.co.uk)
4) READING
A reading list is attached.
Canadian Project 44
A remarkable mapping project for Op Veritable. Well worth a few minutes of your time. Note that it takes a few seconds to start loading.
https://clearing-the-reichswald.project44.ca/
Any questions about the Tour should be addressed to Jim Tanner at j.k.tanner@hotmail.co.uk or to Andy Grainger at secgen@bcmh.org.uk .
FILMS
We strongly recommend these three Battle for the Rhineland films, whether you intend to join the tour or simply learn about Operation VERITABLE. They are not 1940's newsreels as I had thought but were produced by the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in the 1980's. BCMH Member Peter Knox of the Royal Welch Fusiliers was an assistant to the producer and appears at the end of Part 3 in discussion with his Bundeswehr counterpart. There are not many studies of VERITABLE even though, apart from Normandy, it was the biggest battle fought by 21st Army Group. The commentary and animated maps are extremely helpful in explaining the multi-faceted nature of the battle and the carefully chosen film clips are apposite to the points discussed.
VIRTUAL TOUR BELOW:
Battle for the Rhineland Part 1
Battle for the Rhineland Part 2
Battle for the Rhineland Part 3
Canadian Army Newsreel
Image
2nd Seaforth, Reichswald Forest, 11th Feb 1945show info
Description:
Men of the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders
advancing through the Reichswald Forest. In close support of them are
flame throwing Churchill Tanks. So far no heavy concrete emplacements
have been encountered so the flame throwers have not been in action but
they advance with the forward troops so they can be called on for
instantaneous action. 152 Brigade. Sgt Silverside 11 February 1945
Copyright:
Imperial War Museum - B 14454
Read more: https://51hd.co.uk/accounts/reichswald#ixzz6BlAE6MXv
