Day 1 Flight to London

Day 2 London
Check into the hotel where the entire group will gather for an evening welcome reception. Our historian will treat us to our first lecture, with introductions all around.

Day 3 London
The morning city tour will focus on WWII London. We'll stop at St. Paul's Cathedral and see the book which lists every airman killed while stationed in England. In the afternoon we will visit the Imperial War Museum, which houses authentic examples of World War II weaponry and an exhibit of World War I trench warfare. Then we proceed to the Churchill War Room, part of the underground nerve center of Britain's war effort.

Each evening as we gather for a meal, we'll have the opportunity for an informal discussion of our experiences.

Day 4 Portsmouth
We leave London on the way to Portsmouth. In Hendon, we'll view an array of historic aircraft at the RAF Museum and the Battle of Britain Museum. In Portsmouth, we'll visit the award winning D-Day Museum.

Day 5 Caen
Following breakfast, we will visit the Royal Marine Museum and see Nelson's HMS Victory. If time permits, we'll visit the British Naval Museum.

In the afternoon, we board the cross-channel ferry. Dinner is served during the trip. We will then board our coach and travel to Caen.

Day 6 Caen
After breakfast at the hotel, our tour begins where the first shots were fired, at the crucial Pegasus Bridge. Our historian will describe the taking of this key crossing.

Then we pass the British and Canadian Beaches, Sword, Juno and Gold on the way to the guns at Longues-sur-Mer, the battery against which HMS Ajax scored perhaps the most accurate (and perhaps the luckiest) hit of the war. We'll see the evidence that remains.

After lunch we will view the Tapestry and Cathedral of Bayeux which commemorates the Norman conquest of England. Done in the Eleventh Century, it is a finely embroidered work on linen.

Day 7 Caen
We’ll spend the morning at Omaha Beach where the Americans took the German fortifications after a stupendous fight. Losses were especially high in the first wave of landings. Today the American Cemetery stretches along the bluff. We will study the battlefield; cross the beach, analyze the maps and imagine the courage that saved our freedom that day. We will also pay our respects (at the hundreds of crosses and stars of David) to the deceased.

Point-du-Hoc is a sheer cliff some forty meters high where the elite Ranger Force scaled the German breastworks on D-Day. We will spend part of the morning there, trying to fathom how they did it. In the afternoon, we’ll visit Ste.-Mere-Eglise, taken by the American Airborne on D-Day, and hear the stories of the veterans who took it. After, we'll stop at the Paratrooper Museum.

Day 8 Paris
On the way to Paris we’ll view the Bridge at Troarn, the D-Day objective of the 3rd Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers.

We arrive in Paris by noon. Tour members can join the group in exploring the city, or make their own way. In the afternoon, before check in at the hotel, we will visit the area around the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides, which houses Napoleon’s Tomb. The evening is free, with easy access from the hotel to Notre Dame, the Tuilleries and the Louvre.

Day 9 Arnhem
After breakfast, we board a high-speed train to Brussels and begin our study of Operation Market Garden, the only attempt by the Allied forces to strike directly for Berlin. Control of the bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegan and Arnhem would mean British armored forces on the far side of the Rhine, with an open road to Berlin.

Enroute to Arnhem, we'll view the film "A Bridge Too Far." In the afternoon, our historian will take us to the bridge at Arnhem and explain the desperate three days that the British 1st Airborne held it. Then we'll visit the Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek.

Day 10 The Ardennes
This is where Hitler put everything he had into his only counter-attack. On December 16, 1944, Lt. Lyle Bouck was one of the first people to see the German columns coming on. We’ll make our first stop in the Ardennes at Lanzereth, the town where Bouck and a platoon of 19 men held off a full strength German SS Battalion for an entire day. We’ll visit the American positions and hear their story, a breathtaking tale of heroism.

On December 17, 1944, the second day of the offensive, the Germans had several breakthroughs and many Americans surrendered near the town of Malmedy. Outside the town, the leading SS Panzer Division lined up about 150 GIs and fired at them point blank. Less than half escaped alive. We will view the site of the massacre and the American Memorial at Malmedy. From there, it is a beautiful drive through the Ardennes Mountains to our evening lodging.

Day 11 Luxembourg
We’ll drive to Bastogne where the Americans rallied and stopped the German attack. Here we’ll view the route of the initial American retreat and the place where the 101st Airborne and elements of the 10th Armored held off fifteen German divisions for six days. Our historian will take us through the sites in the picturesque town. We’ll also see the Memorial to the troops and the Battle of the Bulge Museum nearby.

After our visit, it’s a short ride to Luxembourg and Haam where we’ll see the American cemetery and General George Patton’s grave. He rests among his men in a cemetery as beautiful and moving in its own way as the one at Normandy.

Day 12 Frankfurt
We’ll drive to the Siegfried Line to see what’s left of the German communication trenches, the pillboxes and dragon’s teeth, gun pits and foxholes that American GI’s fought so hard to take in late 1944. Then it’s on to Frankfurt where we’ll enjoy a free afternoon in the city prior to a festive dinner. At this last gathering, our historian will speak on the meaning of World War II. Then we’ll bid farewell after an enriching campaign into history.

Day 13
Early morning departure to the Frankfurt International Airport for flights back to the United States.  For those continuing on to the optional post tour to Berchtesgaden remain on the bus and continue their historic journey....

D-Day to the Rhine

Optional Post Tour to Berchtesgaden

Day 1 Berchtesgaden

After the rest of the tour group is dropped off at the Frankfurt International Airport, we will continue our journey southeast towards Munich and begin our exploration of the final days of Hitler’s reign.

We will visit Dachau, site of some of the most nefarious acts of and against humankind during the war, as we travel south through Bavaria.  Constructed in a disused gunpowder factory, Dachau was the first concentration-style camp after which all subsequent concentration camps were modeled.  In total, over 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 countries were housed in Dachau, with at least 30,000 registered prisoners are believed to have died in the camp and it subcamps: notable Jews, resistance fighters, clergymen, politicians, communists, writers, artists and royalty.  The second camp to be liberated by British or American forces, Dachau was one of the first places in where the west was exposed to Nazi brutality.

Day 2 Berchtesgaden

The morning begins with a city tour of Berchtesgaden and Obersalzberg.  Our guide will give us an overview of Hitler’s life, history of Obersalzberg’s takeover by the Nazi party, and Martin Bormann’s transformation of the mountain into Hitler’s Southern Headquarters. We will tour a portion of the nearly 4 mile underground bunker network under Obersalzberg, built as an air raid shelter, war headquarters and last refuge for Nazi leaders Hitler, Göring and Bormann.

After our city tour, we will head to Hitler’s Alpine retreat and visit the Eagle’s Nest, built as a 50th birthday present to him from the Nazi party, as well as the remains of the vast Nazi Party complex. Perched at 6017 feet, the Eagle’s Nest and the road network leading to it were considered feats of engineering as they were completed in only 13 months time in 1937-38.

Day 3 Berchtesgaden

Today is a free day. Participants are free to enjoy the day as they please.
You may choose to explore the charming town of Berchtesgaden. It is small
enough so that the entire town is walkable.

Another option would be to take the hour train or bus ride to Salzburg,
Austria. This city is well known as Mozart’s birthplace and home. In Salzburg and
its environs, the movie The Sound of Music was filmed. The Old City
features buildings from the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque
periods as well as elegant classical burghers’ houses.

Most of the Old City is a pedestrian zone. You can walk around and enjoy the
city’s many museums, bustling markets (where they sell everything from
local delicacies to classic souvenirs). You will also see many Baroque
churches that gave the city the reputation “German Rome.”

Day 4 Flights Home

We have an early morning departure from our hotel in Berchtesgaden for the Munich International Airport.

(Please make sure that your return flight depart Munich A/P after 10:00am)

Please note that a minimum number of participants are required to run this post tour.

Recommended Reading:
Citizen Soldiers – Stephen E. Ambrose

D-Day: June 6, 1944 – Stephen E. Ambrose

Voices of D-Day – Ronald Drez & Stephen E. Ambrose