What an amazing trip this was. I took my father with me. Our tour guide, Chris, was the most knowledgeable and passionate person on the subject matter that I’ve ever seen. He knew everything down to the smallest detail and had actually been at the sites before with former EZ Company members that told him, “this is the exact spot where this happened”, etc. We were there while the queen’s jubilee was going on in London and also the anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, so our schedule had to be adjusted a little bit to accomodate for crowds and traffic, but our bus driver and tour manager went above and beyond to make it all work. The tour manager did an excellent job of calling ahead to every place that we visited to make sure that they were still able to handle a bus of tourists as it had been a couple of years since any of these places had had visitors because of prior covid restrictions. All of our hotels were great, the meals were all timely and excellent, and the bus was comfortable. We saw a lot of museums and stopped at many important and some surprise sites along the way. Standing on the shores of Utah, Omaha and Juno beaches and imagining what it was like on D Day was an experience that I’ll never forget. Can’t wait to book another Stephen Ambrose tour.
Operation Overlord Tour
Honestly - everything was so great. I cannot imagine any improvement on the content of the info. Ron was the best and all his stories and videos served to enhance the experience.
The Operation Overlord Tour covers the planning and launch of the D-Day Invasion. As one of our D-Day Tours, this itinerary is based on thousands of hours of interviews by Stephen E. Ambrose and our chief historian, Ron Drez, with veterans, studying of the battlefields, and other World War II research. Thanks to their experience with the terrain and its history, we are able to present a D-Day tour that is unmatched in its authenticity.
On our Operation Overlord Tour you will follow along the path, where America’s best and brightest fought in World War II, including a Normandy tour that visits the invasion beaches, especially Omaha and Utah, as well as the American Cemetery.
As Stephen Ambrose said, “The American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn’t want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So they fought, and won, and all of us, living and yet to be born, must be profoundly grateful.”
Our Operation Overlord Tour will indeed leave you profoundly grateful.
The Most Qualified D-Day Historians
We have only the most qualified historians lead our Operation Overlord tour. Our historians are experts in their field of history and world-renowned authors. Their years of extensive research and interviewing hundreds of WWII and D-Day veterans on the very battlefields on which they fought add a personal dimension to our tours that no other WWII or D-Day tour company can offer. It is a highlight to hear them tell these stories of America’s heroes at the very places where they occurred. These harrowing tales of bravery and courage capture a moment in time.
Highlights
- London: Tour the WWII places of interest in London, Churchill Cabinet War Rooms, the Imperial War Museum
- Portsmouth and Normandy: Depart for Normandy from Portsmouth where Eisenhower set up the advance command post for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF)
- Ste-Mere-Eglise: Visit Ste-Mere-Eglise where the effigy of John Steele still hangs from the church steeple
- Normandy Beaches: Tour the invasion beaches of Omaha and Utah, as well as Pointe-du-Hoc where the rangers scaled the cliffs to silence the German artillery
- Omaha Beach: Pay our respects at the American Cemetery where the graves of 9387 American fighting men lie on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach
Day-By-Day Itinerary
DAY 1 Overnight Flight to London
Guests travel independently to London on an overnight flight from the USA. If you would like to arrive early and have some extra nights in London, we can arrange your hotel for you.
DAY 2 London
After arrival, make your way to the tour hotel on-your-own. The entire group will gather for an evening welcome reception at the hotel. Our historian will treat us to our first lecture, with introductions all around.
DAY 3 London
The morning will feature key sites in London that figured prominently in the War. We then proceed to the Churchill War Rooms, the underground nerve center for Britains war effort. We will also visit the Imperial War Museum, which houses authentic examples of World War II weaponry, tanks and aircraft and an exhibit of WWI trench warfare. We will have free time to enjoy London in the evening.
DAY 4 Portsmouth
Depart London for Bletchley Park where we will visit the nerve center for intelligence used in the Allied War effort, code name Ultra. Here we will see the place where the Enigma machine is housed and where the cyphers and codes of several Axis countries were decrypted during the war.
This afternoon we will tour Southwick House, the advance command post of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. In the months leading up to D-Day in 1944, the house became the headquarters of the main Allied commanders, including Naval Commander-In-Chief Admiral Ramsay, Allied Supreme Commander General Eisenhower, and the Army Commander-In-Chief General Montgomery.
DAY 5 - 8 Normandy
Following breakfast, we will board the cross-channel ferry and embark for Normandy as the troops did in 1944. For the next few days, site visits in Normandy will include:
- Ste-Mere-Eglise, one of the villages where the American Airborne descended on D-Day. Here we will view and explore the iconic church where John Steele and his landing on the steeple are memorialized.
- We also visit La Fiere Bridge where the 82nd Airborne successfully delayed a German Panzer counter-attack against the Allied landing forces.
- We will study The Longest Day at Brécourt Manor where Lt. Dick Winters with members of Easy Company successfully silenced German artillery firing on American troops landing at Utah Beach.
- We will visit Utah Beach itself, where the 4th Division landed, and the Invasion Museum that depicts their heroics.
- We will stop at Ste-Marie-du-Mont where still stands the unique Renaissance-style steeple used as an observation post by the Germans.
- We will proceed to the town of Carentan where we will follow the exact steps taken by American Paratroopers during the Battle of Normandy.
- A visit to Pointe-du-Hoc, where Rudder's Rangers scaled the cliffs to neutralize German heavy guns defending the expanse of beaches on D-Day.
- Omaha Beach where the Americans landed and faced the strongest German resistance of the day and incurred the greatest losses. We will walk the beach and visit some of the German defense fortifications. We explore these sands from the tide's ebb to the distant dunes to understand the emotions of the young soldiers of the 1st and 29th Divisions as they approached the gates of hell.
- We will pay our respects at the American Cemetery with its 9387 American soldiers' graves stretching along the top of the bluff overlooking the beach.
- We will view the battery at Longues-sur-Mer, a fine example of the great defenses that made up Hitler's Atlantic Wall.
- We will proceed along the British Beaches to Pegasus Bridge where the first shots were fired on D-Day. Here the British Sixth Airborne led by Major John Howard with a miraculous glider landing carried out a surprise attack that yielded great success in overtaking this crucial bridge across the Caen Canal.
DAY 9 Paris
We arrive in Paris this afternoon. The Allies, preceded by Free French troops, symbolically reclaimed the French capital from the Nazis in August 1944. As did the American troops on leave, you may explore the city on your own. The evening is free.
DAY 10 Home
After breakfast, an airport transfer will be provided to the Paris Charles DeGaulle Airport (CDG).
Tour Dates
- September 1 - 10, 2023
- July 5 - 14, 2024
- September 6 - 15, 2024
Video
Historians
TRIP COST $3,990
Prices are per person based on double occupancy. For a single room add $1,000.