Footsteps Across Time
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CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DEFENCE COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY Security and Resilience Group Department of Defence Management and Security Analysis PhD Thesis Academic Year 2007-8 Peter Caddick-Adams, TD, BA (Hons) FOOTSTEPS ACROSS TIME The Evolution, Use and Relevance of Battlefield Visits to the British Armed Forces Supervisor: Professor CD Bellamy Presented 1 November 2007 © Cranfield University 2007. All rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder Footsteps Across Time ABSTRACT This study examines the educational use made by military forces around the world, but primarily those of the United Kingdom, of visits to past battlefields. Investigation suggests this practice commenced formally in Prussia and may be nearing its 200 th anniversary; certainly the British Army’s Staff College at Camberley has been visiting battlefields for educational purposes since at least 1885. To date, no extended academic study of this practice has been undertaken, and no specific use of the Staff College Battlefield Tour Archive has been made in this context. An examination is made of educational theory, by which the effectiveness and value of battlefield visiting can be measured. This study creates a typology of battlefield visiting, and thus acknowledges a much older civilian tradition of making pilgrimages to past scenes of conflict (initially to pray for the souls of the dead), which later evolved into civilian battlefield tourism to destinations such as Waterloo and Gettysburg. The work examines the nature of British battlefield visiting, using the Staff College Battlefield Tour Archive, in four phases: before the First World War; during the inter-war period; during the post-Second World War and Cold War periods, and at the time of writing. Throughout the study, parallels are drawn with military battlefield visits undertaken by the American and German armed forces. The conclusion is made that battlefield visiting is a unique and valuable tool in military education that is not well managed, and that no recognition is given to its value in terms of classic education theory. -i- Footsteps Across Time CONTENTS Chapter Title Page ABSTRACT i CONTENTS ii LIST OF FIGURES vi LIST OF MAPS viii LIST OF APPENDICES ix LIST OF OPERATION CODEWORDS x GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xvi INTRODUCTION Aim 1 Objectives 1 Reasons for Undertaking the Study 2 Absence of Literature 4 Multi-national Practice 5 The Tradition of Military Tourism 8 Staff College Archives 9 Educational Validation 11 Need for a Battlefield Visiting Typology 12 Doctrine, military history and battlefields 12 ONE LEARNING IN THE FIELD: THEORY AND PRACTICE The Commander 16 Wider Education Theory and its Relevance to Battlefield Visits 20 The Behaviourist and Cognitive Schools 22 David Kolb 27 Honey and Mumford 34 Roger Greenaway 36 Marton and Entwistle 38 -ii- Footsteps Across Time Howard Gardner 39 Lev Vygotsky and successors 44 Military Educational Appraisals 45 Learning Outcomes 47 Carolyn Johnstone 48 Walter Schumm 52 The Higher Command and Staff Course 53 Author’s Experience 55 Army Training Regiment, Pirbright 56 Mike Bechtold, Canadian Battle of Normandy Foundation 56 Conclusion 57 TWO KEY DEFINITIONS Typology of Battlefield Visiting 64 Tourism 67 Pilgrimages 71 Ancient Battlefield Commemoration 78 Civilian Historical Tours 81 Army Battlefield Tours 83 Staff Rides 88 Tactical Exercises Without Troops (TEWTs) 107 Manoeuvres 112 Zuber’s Thesis 115 Conclusion 116 THREE THE EVOLUTION OF BATTLEFIELD TOURISM Experiencing military history in the pre-tourism era 125 Waterloo and British Battlefield Tourism 133 MacCannell’s ‘Marking’ Process 140 Wider Nineteenth Century Tourism and Battlefield Literature 143 Later Nineteenth Century Understanding of History and War 147 Case Study of Russian Battlefield Tourism 152 Conclusion 154 FOUR FROM CLAUSEWITZ TO COOK German Staff Training 164 Wargaming 167 Staff Rides 170 Carl von Clausewitz 171 American Staff Training 174 British Staff Training 181 The First Overseas Tour 185 The Early Tours 191 -iii- Footsteps Across Time The Post-Boer War era 194 Henry Wilson 200 ‘Wully’ Robertson 211 Conclusion 222 FIVE THE SHADOW OF THE SOMME Western Front Tourism 234 Early Guide Books 236 The Fatal Avenue 241 Camberley Reopens 248 The New Battlefield Tours 252 The Caddick-Adams Tour 255 Further Camberley Tours 260 O’Connor and Alexander 264 Camberley in 1928 269 Re-fighting Cambrai 272 Defending Belgium 276 Wider Tourism 277 The Menin Gate and Pilgrimages 280 Jack Slessor 286 US Army Staff Rides in the Inter-war Period 287 Conclusion 293 SIX THE SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA Miles Dempsey 303 Leigh-Mallory 306 Ypres and Inter-War Tourism 308 Defence Cuts 314 The Imperial Defence College 316 The Battlefield Tour and Staff Ride Meet 318 Slessor’s New Tours 320 Official Guidebooks 326 Old Comrades 329 The Somme Commemorated 330 Langemarck Cemetery 332 Hitler and Churchill 335 Vimy Ridge 337 Germany before the War 340 Camberley before the War 343 Wartime Tours 346 Conclusion 347 SEVEN THE SHADOW OF MONTGOMERY BAOR 356 Royal Engineers’ Tours 359 Monty as Author 361 -iv- Footsteps Across Time Dick McCreery 363 McCreery at BAOR 364 Richard Hull and Camberley 366 Camberley and BAOR Tours 370 Ops. VERITABLE, PLUNDER and VARSITY 373 Bottlefield or Battlefield? 384 The Normandy Tradition 386 Op. GOODWOOD 388 The Staff and Speakers 392 Other Tours 394 Alternatives to Normandy 397 Stanley Hollis 400 The Tour in 1972 413 Replacement Speakers 414 Hans von Luck 417 NORTHAG Tours 420 Conclusion 422 EIGHT OUT OF THE SHADOWS The Future of the Tour 430 Sir John Stanier 432 The Last Tour 436 Nigel Bagnall 440 A Tour to Arnhem 445 ‘We Really Do Miss the Tour’ 447 TDRC and Battlefield Tours 453 Ex. SEELOW STRIKE 454 The Higher Command and Staff Course 458 Conclusion 461 NINE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The Story Today 467 The American and German Experience 470 Military Periodicals 472 British Battlefield Visiting Today 473 Gaps in Knowledge 475 Recommendations 480 BIBLIOGRAPHY 482 APPENDICES 536 -v- Footsteps Across Time LIST OF FIGURES Full acknowledgement is given for the source of each illustration; if the author seems to lean heavily on old picture postcards to illustrate points in the text, this is for the mundane reason that their copyright has generally expired and there are consequently few restrictions on their reproduction. Number Title Page 1.1 Diagram of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle 29 1.2 Diagram of Kolb’s four learning styles linked as pairs 31 1.3 Diagram of Honey and Mumford’s four Learning Styles 36 2.1 Diagram of Melvin’s Staff Ride model, 2004 65 2.2 Diagram of the Inter-relationship of different Battlefield Visiting activities 66 2.3 King George V at Ypres in December, 1918 73 2.4 French Railway poster, c.1928 78 2.5 Diagram interpreting Battlefield Visiting activities in terms of Participation and Historical Content 82 2.6 The Staff Ride by Don Stivers, 1981 91 2.7 Diagram showing how the six Types of Battlefield Visit can be defined by their Overall Aim 92 2.8 Diagram of the differences in Terrain Study on Battlefield Tours and Staff Rides 102 2.9 Equation of the differing components of Staff Rides and Battlefield Tours 103 2.10 Diagram: The Cursor 105 2.11 Diagram of Battlefield Tour/Staff Ride Terminology 109 2.12 Punch cartoon, c. 1890 110 2.13 Postcard c.1900 showing the annual German military manoeuvres 117 3.1 Postcard of Hougoumont , 1902 138 3.2 Stereoscope of the Lion Mound at Waterloo 142 3.3 Stereoscope of the Lion Mound at Waterloo (reverse) 142 3.4 Postcard of the Lion Mound, c. 1925 143 3.5 The Thin Red Line by Robert Gibb 146 3.6 German Propaganda postcard, c. 1915 147 4.1 Postage stamp of Carl von Clausewitz 171 4.2 Postcard of Helmuth von Moltke (the younger) 173 4.3 Western Maryland Rail Road advertising handbill 179 4.4 Gettysburg Anniversary Bible 180 4.5 Gettysburg Handbill, 1893 180 4.6 Postcard of the Staff College, c. 1900 183 4.7 Picture postcard of Sir Henry Wilson 201 4.8 Photographic postcard of Edge Hill battlefield 207 4.9 Picture postcard of Sir William Robertson 213 5.1 Michelin Guides to the Battlefields, 1914-18 238 5.2 British soldiers at Waterloo in 1918 245 -vi- Footsteps Across Time 5.3 British officers at Waterloo in 1918 246 5.4 Lt-Col. TA Lowe’s Battlefield Guide Book of 1920 247 5.5 Postcard of Bethune Military Cemetery, c.1921 256 5.6 Postcard of refreshments on the battleground 257 5.7 Postcard of Vermelles Château ruins 257 5.8 Postcard of wreckage at Zeebrugge 258 5.9 Fragment of Gommecourt Trench Map 258 5.10 Wrecked British tank at Ypres Railway Station 259 5.11 The same tank in May, 1940 259 5.12 Advertisement in Cook’s Guide for 1921 278 5.13 Advertisement in Cook’s Guide for 1921 278 5.14 The Menin Gate at Midnight by Will Longstaff, 1927 282 5.15 Handbill offering Battlefield Tours, 1928 283 5.16 Veterans at the Newfoundland Memorial Park 284 5.17 Veterans and families at Vimy Ridge 284 5.18 Booklets of battlefield postcards 285 5.19 75 th Anniversary of Gettysburg in 1938 290 6.1 Postcard: ruins of Ypres 309 6.2 Motor bus offering Battlefield Excursions, 1919 310 6.3 Motor bus offering Battlefield Excursions, 1919 (detail) 310 6.4 Log road in the Somme area 313 6.5 Belgian Railways poster, c. 1930 313 6.6 Cartoon From Owl Pie , 1932 315 6.7 Diagram: the Staff Ride and Battlefield Tour meet 319 6.8 1933 Le Cateau battlefield tour booklet 327 6.9 Bolton Artillery’s Tour to the Battlefields, 1933 331 6.10 Nazi Propaganda postcard of Hitler in the Trenches 334 6.11 1936 Canadian Pilgrimage to Vimy 339 6.12 Cover of Twenty Years After magazine 341 7.1 Giles cartoon, Himmel.