Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours

Overnight Flight to London

This tour is the brainchild of the late Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose and further developed by Capt. Ronald Drez. Ambrose and Drez designed this itinerary after thousands of hours of interviews with veterans, study of the battlefields, research and writing. Thanks to their experience with the terrain and its history, we are able to present a tour that is unmatched in its authenticity.

Please sit back and relax on your overnight flight!

London

Check into the hotel where the entire group will gather for an evening Welcome Reception. Participants will have an opportunity to get acquainted with each other and meet the historian and tour staff. Our historian will treat us to our first lecture; a brief overview of WWII will be presented, and sites we will be seeing in the days to come.

London

The morning city tour will focus on WWII London, the Churchill War Rooms, and the Imperial War Museum. Then we proceed to the Churchill War Rooms, part of the underground nerve center of Britain’s war effort. The war rooms became necessary after aerial bombardments in WWI; the government needed a secure headquarters where they could conduct business in the event that that London was bombed.

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.

Portsmouth

We leave London for Portsmouth, where we’ll visit the award winning D-Day Museum and Overlord Embroidery. Portsmouths D-Day Museum is Britains only museum with the primary goal of covering all aspects of the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944. The centerpiece of the museum is the Overlord Embroidery, the worlds longest embroidery of its kind, which measures 272 feet long. The embroidery is a tribute to the sacrifice and heroism of the men and women who took part in Operation Overlord.
After lunch, the group will visit the Southwick House, the elegant country house which became the location of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. In the months leading up to D-Day, Southwick House became the headquarters of the main Allied commanders: Allied Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower; Naval Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Ramsay; and the Army Commander-in-Chief, General Montgomery. Large wall maps that were used in planning D-Day are still in place in the house, with markers showing the positions of the involved forces at the moments of the first landings.

Normandy: Please note that the order of the itinerary may change based on the ferry schedule, scheduled ceremonies at museums and cemeteries, and ease of accessibility to important sites.

Caen

Following an early morning breakfast, we board the cross-channel ferry. Once we arrive in Normandy, we will drive out to Omaha Beach where the Americans took the German fortifications after a stupendous fight. Omaha Beach is six miles wide, surrounded by cliffs. This made the beach landing extremely hazardous. Very little went as planned during the landing at Omaha Beach. German defenses were strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on landing US troops. We will study the battlefield and hear accounts of the heat of battle; cross the beach, analyze the maps and imagine the courage that saved our freedom that day.

Today the American Cemetery stretches along the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. It covers 172 acres, and contains the remains of American military dead, most of who were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II. The names of the Americans who lost their lives in the conflict but could not be located and/or identified are inscribed on the walls of a semicircular garden at the east side of the memorial. We will pay our respects at the cemetery.

Our last stop of the day is at Point-du-Hoc, a sheer cliff over 100 ft. high where the elite Ranger Force scaled the German breastworks on D-Day.

Caen

In the morning, well visit Ste-Mere-Eglise, taken by the American Airborne on D-Day, and hear the stories of the veterans who took it. We follow the route of 101st Airborne, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment; the route Lt. Richard Winters and a handful of men took on the first night of the invasion of Brecourt Manor. In 1944, the manor was the site of a German battery that threatened the invasion beaches at Utah. Today Brecourt Manor is a working farm usually closed to the public. We will have the unique opportunity to visit the site of the battery and follow the exact route of the assault by Easy Company.

From the manor we proceed to Utah Beach and the Utah Beach Museum. The museum was built around the German strategic bunker WN5, in the exact place where American Troops set foot on French soil on D-Day.

From Ste-Marie-du-Mont, we will travel past Dead Mans Corner, and into Carentan, the Norman town that was one of the Allies earliest objectives. We will see the site of Easys battle as they entered the town on June 12, and the square from which General Maxwell Taylor presented awards to his men for their performance during the invasion.

Caen

Rising early, we will travel to Pegasus Bridge, where the first shots of D-Day were fired. A glider borne company of the British 6th Airborne Division, and an early success in the invasion captured this bridge over the Caen Canal, called Pegasus Bridge in honor of the symbol of the British airborne force. Our historian will describe the taking of this key crossing. We will study the British and Canadian Beaches, Sword, Juno and Gold, as our historian brings us back to June 6, 1944.

Sitting on the cliff top overlooking Arromanches, we will visit Cinema Circulaire 360 and view The Price of Freedom. The 360 degree film utilizes archived film, previously unseen footage, and footage of the towns and countryside where so many battles were fought. The combination of the historical D-Day imagery and the present day landscaping stunningly portrays the courage, suffering and heroism of the war.

We will end our day at Longues-sur-Mer, the battery of guns against which HMS Ajax scored perhaps the most accurate (and maybe the luckiest) hit of the war. We’ll see the evidence that remains.

Paris

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

We arrive in Paris early afternoon. Tour members can explore the city on their own. Our hotel offers convenient access to the area around the Seine River, the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides (site of Napoleons tomb), Notre Dame cathedral, the Tuileries gardens and the Louvre. The evening is free.

Arnhem

After breakfast, we board a high-speed train to Brussels and begin our study of Operation Market Garden. This was the earliest and only attempt by the Allied forces to strike directly for Berlin. Control of the bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem would enable British armored forces to reach the far side of the Rhine and then have an open road to Berlin.

Our travels continue along Hells Highway, the route followed by the British XXX Corps as it attempted to reach its embattled 1st Airborne Division in Arnhem. Our first stop will be at the famous bridge over the Rhine that was the objective of Operation Market Garden, the Bridge at Nijmegen. Following this we go on to the bridge Too Far at Arnhem where we discuss the desperate three days that the British 1st Airborne held firm. We then visit the Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek, which focuses on the Battle of Arnhem, and the British Cemetery near there.

The Ardennes

From there we will drive through the Ardennes to the Siegfried Line to see the remnants of German communication trenches, the pillboxes and dragons teeth, gun pits and foxholes that American GIs fought so hard to take in late 1944.

The Ardennes is where Hitler put everything he had into his only counterattack. On December 16, 1944, Lt. Lyle Bouck was one of the first people to see the German columns advancing. We will stop in , the town where Bouck and a platoon of 19 men held off a full strength German SS Battalion for an entire day. Upon examining the American positions and hearing the story, we will appreciate this breathtaking tale of heroism.

On December 17, 1944, the second day of their 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 see the site of the massacre and the American Memorial at Malmedy.

In the forested hills of eastern Belgium we visit a hamlet called Baraque de Fraiture at the intersection of two highways. Here in a grassy plot lies a carved granite boulder that proclaims it Parkers Crossroads for the commander and his men who held out for two days against a massive German onslaught.

From here, it is a beautiful drive through the Ardennes Mountains to our evening lodging.

Luxembourg

We will drive to Bastogne where the Americans rallied and stopped the German attack. Here is 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 eight days. Our historian will take us through the sites in the picturesque town. Well also see the Memorial to the troops and the Battle of the Bulge Museum nearby. After our visit, its a short ride to Luxembourg.

Frankfurt

Our morning will begin by paying tribute to the many fallen at the German Cemetery, American Cemetery in Hamm and General George S. Pattons grave. Gen. Patton rests among his men in a cemetery as beautiful and moving in its own way as the one at Normandy.

The afternoon holds a special treat as tour participants will venture on an afternoon lunch cruise along the Rhine River, with its spectacular scenery and landscapes.

Finally, we travel to Frankfurt where well enjoy a free afternoon in the city prior to a farewell dinner. At this last gathering, we will have an opportunity for reflection and good conversation about the tour. We will bid farewell after an enriching campaign into history.

Flight Home

Early morning departure to the Frankfurt International Airport for flights back to the United States. Those extending their historical journey and participating in the optional post tour to Berchtesgaden will remain on the bus.

Post Tour - 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 Hitlers reign.

We stop at Dachau, site of some of the most nefarious acts of and against humankind during the war. Dachau was the first camp of this kind and the model for all subsequent concentration camps. In total, over 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 countries were housed in Dachau. At least 30,000 are believed to have died : notably Jews, resistance fighters, clergymen, politicians, communists, writers, artists and royalty. Dachau was one of the first places to expose the west to Nazi brutality.

Post Tour - Berchtesgaden

The morning begins with a city tour of Berchtesgaden and Obersalzberg. We will have an overview of Hitlers life, and the Nazi partys take over and development of the mountain for Hitlers Southern Headquarters.

After our city tour, we will head to Hitlers Alpine retreat and visit the Eagles Nest, perched at 6017 feet and built as a 50th birthday present to him from the Nazi party.

Note: The road up to Eagles Nest is narrow and winding, and closes for inclement weather.

After our city tour, we will head to Hitlers Alpine retreat and visit the Eagles 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 Eagles 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.

Post Tour - Berchtesgaden

Today is a free day. You may choose to explore the charming walkable town of Berchtesgaden. Another option would be the hour train or bus to Salzburg, Austria. This city is well known as Mozarts birthplace and home. In Salzburg and its environs, the movie The Sound of Music was filmed

Post Tour - 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 departs Munich after 10:00am)

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