A WW2 tour looking at the war in the Netherlands from Blitzkrieg to occupation, the Holocaust and Liberation.
7 days from £779 pp
We offer flexible payment options
Once you have booked your tour either online, or by telephone ( 01709 787 463 ), you have the flexibility of how you pay off the remainder of your balance. You can:
Our contact and online banking payment details will be on your confirmation invoice to remind you of your choices.
Local departure by coach, then to our hotel in Amersfoort in the Netherlands for a three-night stay.
We begin by looking at the battle for the Netherlands in May 1940 when the German Blitzkrieg swept across the country. We examine the Grebbelinie area where the defences were utilised to try and stop the German advance.
We visit Fort aan de Buursteeg, see the Dutch War Cemetery and National Army Memorial at Grebbeberg, and then see the trenches and bunkers that were part of the defences. We also visit the Waterliniemuseum at Fort bij Vechten, which explains the history of the defences here and how the flooding of the area was used to slow down the attackers.
We finish the day at Huis Doorn, the Dutch chateau that Kaiser Wilhelm II fled to in exile in 1918, and was then celebrated by the Nazis following their defeat of the Dutch Army in 1940.
Today we look at one of the darkest chapters of the Second World War: the Holocaust. There was a large Jewish population in the Netherlands in 1940, and we discover the terrible story of how they were persecuted, detained and deported to death camps.
We visit two sites where Dutch Jews were detained, and which are now Holocaust Memorial sites: Camp Vught and Camp Fort Amersfoort.
We move on to the Liberation of the Netherlands today and visit the battlefields around Arnhem, looking at some of the lesser-known locations connected with operations here in September 1944, especially from a German perspective.
We examine the story of the Dutch SS Battalion at Ginkel Heath, the fighting along the Arnhem road involved Kampfgruppe Krafft, Kampfgruppe Spindler in Oosterbeek and the use of German tanks in the fighting for Arnhem Bridge and the Oosterbeek Perimeter. We then continue to our hotel in Den Bosch for a three-night stay.
Following on from Arnhem, we look at what happened to British soldiers after the battle and see the Apeldoorn Death Cells, the Warrack Room and the Airborne Hospital site in Apeldoorn, where many of the wounded from 1st Airborne Division were sent.
We look at the evacuation of Airborne soldiers and visit the 40-45 Museum at Beekbergen. We also see the Evacuation Memorial in Apeldoorn, visit Resistance Memorials and graves, and see the Seyss-Inquart Bunker.
We continue with the story of the Liberation of the Netherlands and visit the Canadian War Cemetery at Holten. We see a V1 launch site at Nijverdal, look at the road bridge in Deventer used in the filming of ‘A Bridge Too Far’ as the Arnhem bridge and examine the fighting here, and later look at the IJssell Crossing near Arnhem in April 1945, visit the National Liberation Memorial at Wageningen, as well as the Liberation Hall Museum.
Return home.
Travel Insurance from £39.00 (7 days) (includes insurance premium tax, prices per person). Single Room Supplement from £249.00 (7 days).
Book online OR call our friendly travel advisers on:
01709 787 463
If you prefer, then you can join the tour at the hotel. To do this, we will require a copy of your passport for identification purposes and you must advise us at the time of booking.
No reduction will be given if you should choose to do this.
We are unable to guarantee that the hotel will be able to meet your dietary requirements. We find that the majority of European countries do not generally cater for vegetarians and that the meal supplied may well be what everyone else is having minus the meat.
We will of course endeavour to arrange for a vegetarian meal at the hotel. We do however suggest that you advise us of your dietary requests at the time of booking and recommend that you speak to the receptionist on arrival with regard to your request.
You will stay for three nights at the 4-star Best Western Plus Berghotel Amersfoort located on the highest point of the Amersfoortse Berg in the impressive forest area of Little Switzerland, then three nights at the 4-star Movenpick Hotel 's-Hertogenbosch located within easy access of Den Bosch city centre.
Front row seats can be reserved for £15pp (up to 6 days duration), £25pp (7 and 8 days duration), £30pp (9 to 11 days) or £35pp (12 days or more) on all European tours. This offer is only available for bookings of two or four persons on our Executive and Silver Service coaches and for one or two persons on our Luxuria coaches and is subject to availability. In addition to this, seats on the second row can be reserved for a supplement of £8pp (up to 6 days duration), £15pp (7 and 8 days duration), £18pp (9 to 11 days) or £22pp (12 days or more).
Guaranteed front or second row seats cannot be reserved on transfer journeys to/from the UK port. Occasionally, front and second row seats may be on a request only basis.
Please note: children under 15 years of age are not permitted to sit in the front seats of any coach.
On some coaches the legroom on front seats, central view seats and seats directly in front of the washroom may be slightly less than that available on other seats due to the presence of a modesty board in front.
If your tour is cancelled or merged for any reason and front or second row seats or central view seats or table seats are not available on your tour, you will be refunded any supplement paid. No other compensation will be payable.
Alternatively, we can take seating requests on your booking. However, requests are not guaranteed. All seat numbers are confirmed on travel documents approximately 7-10 days prior to departure.
Central View Seats are available to pre-book free of charge.
Table Seats are available to pre-book free of charge on our Luxuria coaches.
Transfer coaches are routed approximately 2-3 weeks before departure. The route taken depends on where paassengers are booked to travel from on any particular date as to which route is taken. If you require further detailed information regarding the route to the port you can contact our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 two weeks before you are due to travel.
With regard to the route taken by the main tour coach, this is determined by the driver.
When it comes to getting you to your destination, Leger Holidays make it easy, with a selection of travel options for you to choose from.
We have hundreds of coach joining points throughout England, Scotland and Wales. To find your nearest joining point, search using your postcode below.
*Please note joining points are subject to availability.
Why not go the night before your tour for a relaxing start?
You can park for FREE for up to nine days at the Holiday Inn Ashford North and enjoy an overnight stay with English breakfast from just £41.50 per person (Based on 2 sharing a twin/double room on a B&B basis, subject to availability. Single supplements and terms and conditions apply.) We’ll then collect you from the hotel on the day of departure and return you there at the end of your holiday.
To book this package, please call the hotel on 01233 713333, select option 1, quoting ‘Leger Holidays’ and your booking reference. If your holiday is longer than seven days you can pay for additional days’ parking. Ask one of our friendly reservations team for more details when you book your holiday
On most holidays if you’d prefer to join your tour coach at Stop 24 services, you can park your car in the car park which is accredited by the Park Mark safer parking scheme and is monitored 24 hours a day by CCTV. Payment for the parking is made on arrival using the self-service machines. Excludes holidays to Ireland and the U.K. and tours travelling via Brittany Ferries.
On Single Traveller holidays and coach holidays of 7 days’ duration or more, you don’t even have to think about getting to your local joining point. If you live within 20 miles of one of our free joining points we’ll pick you up from your home and take you to meet your transfer vehicle, then return you back home at the end of your holiday. The cost is from £40 per booking each way for up to four people per booking.
If you live a little further afield, you can also take advantage of this convenient option for an additional charge – please enquire at the time of booking.
To book this tour, just give our friendly team a call on 01709 787 463 or book online at www.leger.co.uk