Robin's Red Ramble Tours

We start the day at Les Cambes German Cemetery, the last resting place of over 21350 soldiers killed in the battle of Normandy. We take the opportunity to explore Gary Stearne’s excavations at the Maisy Batteries. Since 2004, Gary and his son Dan, have been gradually  unearthing  a rather intriguing story.

We travel to the famous Pointe-du-Hoc. Here we will hear the puzzling story of Colonel Rudder and the US 2nd Rangers; their assault on the battery and their eventual destruction of the guns. There will be opportunity to enter several of the bunkers and gun emplacements.

OMAHA beach. There are so so many sad stories of sacrifice associated with this the most difficult of landings on D-Day. We shall examine the beach and its defences and how they were overcome by small actions. We will look at the landings of the US 29th Division and their battle off the beach at Vierville Draw and Les Moulins. 

We learn of the bloody sacrifice of one 'Blue Ridge  Mountain' community.  We explore the German Strong-point WN62, where we hear of the human cost of the battle from both sides. We then visit the American War Cemetery at Colleville-Sur-Mer. Here some 9388 US service personnel are buried. Our visit concludes with the daily flag-lowering ceremony at 5 pm.

Today we briefly look at the British landing on Sword Beach and the awesome 6th airborne attacks at Pegasus Bridge and Merville Battery. We get a flavour of what it was like on D-Day, June 6th 1944.

We start our tour at the famous Pegasus Bridge, where the most daring glider assault took place. We drop in for coffee at the first house to be liberated on D-Day, before we move on to the Merville Battery.

In the afternoon we assault Sword Beach. We look at the opposed landing at ‘La Breche’ by the British 3rd Division and its struggle inland. 

We will be delving into the coastal crust of the German defences known as the ‘Atlantic Wall’.

We will inspect the remains of a German gun battery and a regimental HQ bunker complex called ‘Hillman’and hear about its formidable fortifications. Finally find out where the British 3rd Division finished their advance on D-Day.

We start our tour near the famous town of Sainte Mere-Eglise. After a we have had a look around the main square we visit the amazing Airborne museum. 

We make a visit to the Airborne memorials at Pont de la Fière; the bridge that spans the river Merderet. This strategically important bridge and the 500m long causeway across the flooded marshes was the site of some seriously intense fighting.  It was for his action here, that Private First Class Charles DeGlopper of the 325th Glider infantry regiment was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour. The action here will be subject of a film to be released in 2019, entitled ‘No better place to die’

We take a brief look at the POW enclosure at Foucarville before we traverse the causeway and join the coast road on UTAH beach. At strong-point W5 we examine the US 4th Infantry Division’s successful landing on UTAH beach.

Moving inland we visit the memorial at Brecourt Manor. We follow Dick Winters famous Easy Company, ‘Band of Brothers’ in their text-book attack on a German gun battery which was firing on the troops landing on Utah beach. We pass through the first village to be liberated in Normandy, Sainte Marie-Du-Mont.

We complete our tour at the chapel of Angoville-au-Plain where we hear a human tale of two screaming Eagles Medics.

Advanced Landing Grounds - Normandy 1944

This single-day tour examines the development of a whole network of temporary airstrips within the British and Canadian sectors.  These were in operation from June 7th until September and played an essential role in maintaining air superiority, logistics and casualty evacuation.  We look at the Airfields and the aircraft and the airmen that served here we and hear some of their personal stories.  

 New tour for 2019/2020

This tour explores the British battles which formed part of Operation Perch during the week 7-14 June 1944.  

We visit the battlefields south of Bayeux and the road to Tilly-Sur-Seulles.  We take look at the legendary tank action at Lingevres, where 5 tanks were damaged or destroyed by 5 shots from a single Sherman tank.

We pursue the British 7th Armoured Division 'The Desert Rats' who encountered a 'Tiger' on the loose in and around Villers-Bocage, with catastrophic consequences.    

To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the 1942 Dieppe raid I put together a rather special, single day tour. We consider the Canadian, British Commando, US Rangers and covert operations which took place on all five beaches in and around Dieppe on 19th August 1942.

We look at both the successes and the failures of this mission and the lessons we should have learnt from it.

This can be a single-day tour or a weekend,  depending upon your travel requirements. 

Canadian Battlefield Tour 2020

The first part of our tour follows the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada from their landing on Nan White beach, Bernieres-sur-Mer, to their costly battle at Carpiquet Airfield. At Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery we stop and examine some of their soldier’s stories.

‘One of the most significant small unit actions of the Second World War’. Eisenhower. 

This tour examines the failed German counter-attack of August 1944.  It was Hitler's last throw of the dice in Normandy.  An all out German armoured counter-attack, aimed at stopping the American advance at Avranches. A story of the 30th U.S. Army division's desperate struggle at Mortain, holding back the 1st and 2nd SS Panzer divisions.  It was also a relatively unknown success story for the RAF Typhoon squadrons.