World War 2 Battlefield Tours – 2012 (page 12)

The tour list gives the full index of all of our battlefield tours, pilgrimage tours and war graves tours for the Second World War. Expanded details of all tours is also available in our brochure, contact us for a copy.

WORLD WAR 2: Great Escapes Tour

Holland, Germany and Poland – Arnhem, Belsen, Berlin, Zagan (Great Escape Camp), Auschwitz, Dresden, Colditz Castle and the Mohne Dam

11th – 22nd August
12 Days, 11 Nights

£1199.00

Can't make a trip?
Want photographs of a Grave, Memorial or Battlefield site?
Contact Ian at the War Research Society.

Coldiz Castle

This tour starts by travelling through France and Belgium, following the route of 30 Corps on their way to relieve the troops at Arnhem in September 1944. The first night is spent in the Eindhoven area.

The following day we follow the corridor up to Nijmegen and on to Arnhem, and visit the escape route taken across the Neder Rijn to the safety of the Island. We also visit Oosterbeek Airborne cemetery, before spending our second night in Arnhem.

We then travel through Germany to visit Belsen Concentration Camp (and the British and Commonwealth cemetery at Becklinghem Soltau, if requested), before heading for our hotel in the old border town of Helmstedt.

The following day we travel into Berlin for a guided tour of the city, visiting the Berlin War Cemetery, and the grave of Lt. Mike Sinclair, (Red Fox) the prolific escaper who was shot in an attempt to escape from Colditz Castle. We visit the Olympic Stadium, Plotensee, the Reichstag Building, Brandenburg Gate, the site of Hitler's Bunker, the sites of old East Berlin, remains of the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie Escape Museum and many other places of interest.

We then cross the Polish border and visit the site of Stalag Luft 3 from where the 'Great Escape' was made on the night of the 24th March 1944. We also visit the memorial to those shot as an example following the escape.

Our next two nights are spent in the beautiful old capital of Poland, Krakow, where he have some free time for sightseeing and a visit to the remains of the Ghetto to see Oscar Schindler's factory. The following day we visit the Auschwitz and Auschwitz Birkenau Camps with our local guide.

On leaving Poland we travel to Dresden where we spend the next two nights, with a day sightseeing. From here we make our way to the infamous Colditz Castle set above the quaint market square for our tour of the castle and it's artefacts, and cover the escape stories and routes.

We have an overnight stay in Jena, before setting off for our final night in the Kamen area of Germany visiting the immense Mohne Dam, breached by Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his 617 Squadron armed with the Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb.

Special Visits to Reichswald and Rheinberg Cemeteries are possible.