Battlefield Tour Guides & Historians

PETER KNOX 
Colonel Peter Knox OBE was commissioned from Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, into the Royal Welch Fusiliers and travelled widely during his thirty-year military career. He is a graduate of the Army Staff College and was appointed an Officer of the British Empire at the end of his tenure as a battalion commanding officer. A keen student of military history and a son of a Normandy veteran, he has researched and conducted battlefield tours throughout Europe including the Crimea. He aims to bring the battlefields alive, using personal accounts of those who fought there. He is a trustee of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum, former Chairman of The Crimean War Research Society and a member of the British Commission for Military History.

 





BRUCE CHERRY 
Bruce Cherry has been leading and planning battlefield tours since the late 1980s. He counts among his most memorable tours taking Royal Winnipeg Rifles Juno Beach veterans on a 'Normandy to the Scheldt' commemorative tour and veterans of the 100th BN 442 Infantry Regiment (the USA's most decorated unit) back to the Vosges and Hill 104. Bruce has a PhD in Military History and has most recently published a study on Sex and Morale in the Great War.

 


ROB DEERE 
Originally commissioned into The Gordon Highlanders, Rob served for twenty years as an infantry officer in the British Army seeing active service in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. After the Army he worked as a humanitarian programme manager and director in Africa focussing on clearing Explosive Remnants of War from the battlefield and rehabilitating child soldiers. He has a lifelong interest in military history. Together with his military and humanitarian experience and a Master’s degree in Military Strategic Studies, he has a solid professional grounding in the theory, conduct and impact of war. He brings this experience to his battlefield tours, offering clients a soldier and humanitarian’s understanding of the battlefield.

 
BOB DARBY
Bob has been guiding on the battlefields of the world for some 25 years. After military service with the Parachute Regiment he followed this with over 6 years spent in the service of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos of Oman. His military experience includes service during Op Corporate, the recovery of the Falkland Islands with 3 rd Bn The Parachute Regiment as well as service in Northern Ireland. After retiring from a successful Financial Services company in 2005 he has pursued a further career as a Battlefield Guide/Historian. He has worked with and toured at Higher Command level with the British Army as well as leading and writing Battle Studies and Tours for Junior Staff.

 
MAJ (RETD) MIKE PETERS
 
Mike is a full time Military and Battlefied guide who regularly leads military and civilian groups on tours and studies of the battlefields of Europe. He regularly leads tours of Normandy and Arnhem and has recently taken groups to Gallipoli, Sicily, Monte Casino, Anzio, Malta and Crete. Also a published author, Mike has written books on the Glider landings on Sicily and at Arnhem. He is currently working on the Authorised Operational History of the British Army Air Corps 1957-2017. Mike is the Chairman of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides, a post he has held for almost 10 years. Mike had a full and enjoyable military career spanning 34 years, enlisting as a Junior soldier and retiring in 2014 as a Major. His operational experience includes active service in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, and UN peacekeeping duties in Cyprus. He also served in both Gulf Wars and finally in Afghanistan.

 
GRAHAM CROSS

Graham Cross grew up in the village of Raydon, Suffolk and first met the 353rd Fighter Group on their first return visit to their wartime home in 1984. He has been their historian and UK contact for over 30 years attending many of their US reunions and organising their return visits to the UK. He has written three books and numerous articles on their history, including the definitive Jonah’s Feet Are Dry. Inspired by his contact and many friendships with the Group, Graham is a professional historian specialising in American military and diplomatic history in the era of President Franklin Roosevelt. He has taught at the University of Cambridge, University College Dublin, the University of Glasgow and Manchester Metropolitan University.