Charles Trumpess

Organisations

• Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
• The Society of Authors
• Historical Writers' Association
• The Society for Army Historical Research

Details

I am a military historian with a Master's degree in Military History by Research from the University of Buckingham and an Associate Fellow of the prestigious Royal Historical Society. I have dedicated my career to uncovering the military history of Britain's elite Guards regiments during World War II. Through meticulous research, I've illuminated previously overlooked chapters of how these prestigious infantry units transformed into some of the war's most effective armoured forces.

My debut work, A History of the Guards Armoured Formations 1941-1945, published by Pen & Sword Military, tells the extraordinary story of how the five Foot Guards regiments—the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish, and Welsh Guards—made the dramatic transition from elite infantry to tank warfare. This ground-breaking study documents the controversial move from their traditional fighting role as highly disciplined foot soldiers to a mechanised role that demanded entirely different skills, including mechanical aptitude and armoured tactics.

Drawing on new archival material and veteran testimonies, I trace the Guards Armoured Division and 6th Guards (Tank) Brigade from their formation through their triumphs on the battlefields of Northwest Europe. The book examines legendary operations including D-Day, Operation Goodwood, and Market Garden, revealing how these elite infantry units overcame institutional resistance and technical challenges to master armoured warfare. Particularly compelling is my analysis of why it took over a decade for the official history of the Guards Armoured Division to be published, uncovering the military establishment's ambivalence about this fundamental transformation.

My work explores how the Guards' renowned discipline, elite standards, and military excellence translated into their new armoured role, while addressing the practical difficulties of retraining seasoned infantry soldiers for tank operations and the innovations they developed to master this demanding new form of combat.

Building on this expertise, my forthcoming book with Fonthill Media, The Birth of British Special Forces: How the Guards Regiments helped forge the SAS, Commandos and Paras, breaks new ground by examining an even more significant but under-explored Guards contribution to military history. This work reveals how Guards officers were disproportionately represented in the formation of Britain's revolutionary special forces during World War II.

Set against the backdrop of 1940, when Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany, I document Winston Churchill's call for elite raiding forces and how Guards officers answered that call. I demonstrate how men like Bill and David Stirling, Robert “Lucky” Laycock, and Frederick “Boy” Browning leveraged their military skills, leadership experience, and institutional connections to establish the Commandos, SAS, Long Range Desert Group, and Parachute Regiment.

This upcoming work represents the first systematic investigation of how elite infantry regiment culture directly influenced the creation of special forces—a connection that previous histories have treated as incidental rather than fundamental. While SAS histories typically focus on operations, Guards histories concentrate on traditional infantry and ceremonial roles. I bridge this gap by examining how the Guards' emphasis on discipline, elite standards, and military excellence created the template for modern special forces selection and training.

I trace the Guards' influence from the earliest Commando raids through the LRDG's desert reconnaissance missions, the formation of the SAS in North Africa, and the first British airborne operations, including Operation Colossus. Drawing on war diaries, personal papers, and previously recorded interviews with veterans, I examine how Britain's most disciplined infantry elite became the driving force behind its most unconventional forces.

Both works reflect my commitment to rigorous research and my ability to uncover previously unexplored connections within the field of military history. My writing combines scholarly precision with engaging narrative, making complex military transformations accessible to both academic and general audiences.

My expertise extends beyond pure military history to encompass the tactical, cultural, and institutional factors that shaped these elite units. My work reveals how military tradition, elite infantry culture, and combat excellence intersected with wartime innovation to create lasting changes in military organisation and tactics. Through my detailed examination of the Guards regiments, I illuminate broader themes about military adaptation, elite unit evolution, and the development of modern warfare.

These innovative studies establish me as the definitive chronicler of the Guards regiments' wartime transformation, revealing how Britain's most elite infantry soldiers became pioneers of modern armoured and special forces warfare.

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