Meet Your Guides
Richard Pinches
Richard grew up with tales of the North African Campaign when his father regularly relived his experiences as a Desert Rat in the Second World War. His father, Peter ‘Ginger’ Pinches, was lucky and had a good war by comparison and was able to recall his memories without the trauma others experienced. Richard ‘s first desert experience was in Tunisia in 1988 when he experienced the majesty and beauty of the Saharan Desert first hand from a camel on his honeymoon.
Since his father’s death in 2015, Richard has become deeply invested in WW2 and became a reenactor and living historian, displaying at history shows as ‘The Lone Rat’. His large immersive display has won awards and is very popular with the public, many of whom are veterans’ relations. Richard’s research has included the Special Forces, the LRDG, SAS and PPA, who were famous for disrupting Rommel’s Africa Corps deep into their own territory. This research was useful when he was approached to be an advisor on an upcoming National Geographic documentary about the special forces’ contribution to the Second Battle of El Alamein. Both he and his 1943 LRDG desert jeep were filmed in sandy locations in the UK for this. His professional drone skills were also used to film for an episode in a sand quarry. Richard has been working with Steve since 2018 and guided an International group of 21 guests 2022. Richard hopes to build on Steve’s extensive knowledge and continue with Steve’s passion for sharing the desert’s stories.,
Richard with guest at El Alamein on the 80th Anniversary
Endorsements
Great tour, well done Richard! Keeping the enthusiasm going for ten days on the battlefield, getting everyone in the group involved and getting us in the right place at the right time. Nice accessible level of El Alamein story developed as the tour went on in a relaxed fashion. Touring a battlefield with someone who has personal connections that can understand others who also do is an immense bonus. Richard clearly knows his stuff and enjoys it, and it doesn’t take much time for the enthusiasm to spread around the group.”
— Neil Walker, Guernsey
The ‘Lone Rat’ captained my recent bucket-list tour of the El Alamein Battlefields. Richard’s personable approach, knowledgeable insights, and familiarity with the battlesites made for an excellent and most enjoyable Western Desert Battlefield Tour—no mean feat considering he had a diverse group of Commonwealth ‘troops’: Brits, Kiwis, Ozzies, South Africans, and an American, all with our personal agendas for being there. Among us were the sons and daughters of those who fought in the Battle of El Alamein, experienced former military personnel with regimental affiliation with the battles, and well-informed Desert War hobby historians . . . all of whom, under Richard’s lead, collaborated and contributed stories and insights for the benefit of all as we walked over the sacred territory. In some small way, the tour invoked among us the spirit and humour of our 8th Army forebears in an ongoing friendship, which has us asking, ‘When can we meet again, where will we go next? Libya, Tunisia?’ Richard’s wit, humour, and wonderful penchant for dressing the part, as my photo shows, had us almost believing we were back in those fateful days. Thanks, Captain Pinches.
— Graham Fletcher, Australia
Richard lives the part. Combining his knowledge and passion with such a relaxed style, which brings a group together to discuss various aspects of an action on the Battlefield. Those with an interest in the campaigns of North Africa should engage at their earliest opportunity.
— Keith Probert, Oman
Steve Hamilton
Steve was exploring Western Desert battlefields before most battlefield tour companies existed. Over the years he has experienced many adventures out in the desert, often travelling alone with a non-English-speaking driver: from finding some small battlefield relic to graves at Alamein, Libya, and Tunisia: seeing unexplained explosions in the Libyan desert, only to find out it was a German bomb disposal team clearing mines; at Akarit the shock of his young son holding an unexploded mortar bomb, and the translator throwing it to see if it would explode!
Steve’s experience in travelling and guiding groups across the desert battlefields is now second to none, having completed a countless number of tours to the desert. His initial interest in the desert war was the 50th Royal Tank Regiment in which his grandfather had served, and the German Afrika Korps.
Acknowledged as the unofficial Historian of the 50th RTR, (23rd Armoured Brigade) Steve wrote their history in 1996. His grandfather had been a pre-war soldier in India and later a tank driver in North Africa with the 50th RTR. Sadly, he was killed in April 1943. Steve would later stand on the exact spot in the desert where his grandfather was killed. This remote spot in the desert would become a ‘marker’ for all future tours and his guests.
Steve seen here at his Grandfathers grave at Sfax
Steve lived in Germany for 15 years, and it gave him the opportunity to make
friends with many former members of the German Afrika Korps and an insight
“behind enemy lines”. He still considers the best tours to include guests from
both countries. “There is nothing quite like seeing two former enemies or their
son’s or grandchildren standing side by side on a battlefield”. Some highlights
came when he spent a week in Egypt with Rommel’s Battle Secretary, and at
the then newly opened Museum at Mareth, gave the staff their first Mareth
battlefield tour. Steve is also an honorary member of the German Afrika Korps.
Thirty years after he first walked in the sands of the Western Desert, he now
believes it is unlikely that any other Battlefield Guide/Researcher has spent
more “time” on the North African battlefields than he. For example, he able to
take guests to the site of every Victoria Cross action in North Africa.
During a 5-week tour in 2005 Steve rediscovered the “Rommel Haus” made famous during the “Raid on Rommel” of 1941. Then just a week later in Tunisia, he discovered the graves of over 20 German soldiers, which the German authorities admitted to “not knowing about”. In April 2008 in Libya Steve discovered a forgotten battlefield cemetery containing the remains of more than 30 soldiers of the Second World War. In April 2010 he discovered one of the caves used by the Rommel raiding party which was still prepared for defence and the graves of 2 Italian soldiers reputedly killed in the fire fight close to the beach.
Steve Hamilton and his Western Desert Battlefield Tours are doing sterling work in helping to preserve, honour and bring alive the momentous history of the key Desert battles of World War Two for countless family members and dedicated military enthusiasts alike.
In April 2006 Steve guided the Best-Selling Australian author Peter Fitzsimons on a tour of Tobruk, prior to the July launch of his new book “Tobruk”. This is what Peter writes in the Introduction:
In April of 2006, I was privileged to be able to go to Tobruk itself after two previous attempts had gone awry in the company of the greatest North African battlefield expert of them all, Stephen Hamilton. In a four-wheel drive, in a very low gear, I was able to visit all the places I had been writing about and make changes to this book accordingly. You will see, for example, reference to Hill 209 in the chapters to come, and yet it was only while standing upon it that I was truly able to appreciate its significance. Equally, it was only while standing at post R33, that I could really get a true sense of the sheer wind-swept desolation of that part of the desert or standing at the base of Ed Duda hill that I could hear something of the eerie echo of what it must have been genuinely like, and this book is all the better for it. I record my deep appreciation to Steve Hamilton both for going to such efforts to get me all those places and more around Tobruk, and for subsequently reading my battle-field accounts and making suggestions accordingly.
Explore History With Us
Guided tours to the battlefields of North Africa, including Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Battlefields visited range from ancient times, Napoleonic, 1880’s Egyptian Campaign, WW1 and WW2.