European Battlefield Guidebook??

[Matty]

Hey Guys, I'm a Military History major and Reserve soldier and am going to be travelling through Western Europe this summer/fall. I can certainly do the leg-work and track down where individual battles occurred etc but was wondering if there is already an exisiting guide/travel book or website for Canadian Military History in Western Europe? In particular I am interested in maps depicting locations and info on keybattle sites and museums, monuments, fees etc as they exist today from a travellers persepctive as I already have many books on the battles themselves.

Thanks guys

 

[Retired AF Guy]

"Western Europe" covers a lot of territory. Narrowing the field down would certainly help.

 

[AmmoTech90]

http://www.guide-books.co.uk/

Holt's Battlefield Guide Books.  Well written, you could contact them with where you are going and the fact you are interested in Canadian battles and they'll help you out.  They ran the Vimy Battlefield Tour in 2007 the CFSU(E) London PSP staff organized and it was very well done.

 

[Haletown]

For Normandy.  Terry Copp is the best.  He has a series of books following the Canadian Army from Normandy to Germany.

http://www.amazon.ca/books/dp/0978344146

If you go to Normandy there is a guide who knows a lot about Canadian battlefields, including where you can still dig up WW2 battlefield debris.

edrobinson@BattleofNormandytours.com

Worth the money.  He knows the Brit and American areas as well, but his Buron battlefield walk was outstanding.

 

[cupper]

Not a guide book, but also worth reading is Stephen O'Shea's "Back to the Front"

It chronicles a trek he took along the trench lines of WWI, from the North Sea coast to the Swiss Border (although I believe he only made it as far as the French border)

It was a good read.

http://www.stephenosheaonline.com/book-btf-about.html

 

[klambie]

I'd recommend Copp as well, most up to date on current scholarship on Canadian actions.  Complete list here, and a couple bucks cheaper from the source.

http://www.canadianmilitaryhistory.ca/category/publications/guidebooks/

I've also used some Battlezone Normandy Tour ideas.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=339948