D-Day, Normandy Landing Beaches: Battlefield Guide (Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guides)

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About D-Day, Normandy Landing Beaches: Battlefield Guide

Product Description This book is a summary of Major and Mrs Holt's study of the Normandy Landing Beaches and Battlefields that has taken over 30 years of work in both conducting tours and writing five earlier editions of the work. This 'Definitive' work is so called because not only does it provide clear backgrounds and tours for each of the Landing Beaches and Airborne Zones but it locates over 500 memorials, cemeteries, bunkers etc and each one has a photograph and a GPS location. Major and Mrs Holt - Tonie and Valmai Holt - are credited with creating the modern battlefield tour in the 1970s when they were the only people conducting such tours. This book not only draws on the many personal accounts that they heard during their years of touring but also from the military training of Tonie (the 'Major') and Valmai the arts graduate. Because they write all their books together and do all of their own research the book is not only a Guide but also a Military History and a genuine story of human endeavour. From the Author We are often asked - 'Why do you write your guide books?' The answer is that we believe that it is important to record the past and the endeavours that shape our today. Probably the two most important events of recent history are the two world wars and the part that our countrymen and allies played in them. As we conducted our tours around the battlefields it became clear that there was no central record of the memorials that chronicle the struggles of those that fought for our freedoms. We therefore decided that we would begin to record those memorials and events and the culmination of that effort over the last 30 years or so is our book on Normandy. We travelled every road (many times) went in every bunker and cemetery, visited every museum and in the course of our travels made many friends in Normandy. The book is held together by the personal stories of many veterans that we came to know over the years. It is their story. In view of the advances in modern technology we have included GPS locations for every stop that we suggest and have added a photo too. It took two years of work when we were unable to find time to write on anything except Normandy. Our first Normandy Guide was written over 20 years ago. This edition is the 6th. We hope that every reader will find something of value in our books but ultimately we believe that if we are to properly value the freedoms we have today we must know the price that has been paid for them. About the Author Major and Mrs Holt founded the first organisation to offer battlefield tours to the general public in the late 1970s. Since the 1990s they have been writing their series of guide books, incorporating all that they have learned from their experiences conducting thousands of people around battlefields. This series, designed to serve as companions for travellers, whether sitting at home or physically visiting the battlefields, includes detailed travel directions, military history, fascinating anecdotes and tourist information. The Holts share the writing of their books equally and conduct all their own research, spending many weeks on the ground as they prepare each new book or update previously published titles.