Dr John Greenacre is a military historian with a particular interest in the development of conflict during the twentieth century. John spent over twenty years in the British Army as a helicopter pilot before completing his PhD at Leeds University. He is a part time lecturer at the University of Suffolk and also works as a tour guide across Europe and supports current military professional development activity.
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Dr John Greenacre
Lecturer in History
Current Undergraduate Teaching:
Career Planning for History Graduates, Suffolk at War 1914-1991, Researching History (contributor), Dissertation (contributor).
Postgraduate Teaching (MA – TBC):
Conflict the Landscape and Environment.
Current Postgraduate Supervision:
A.Lock, 'The effectiveness of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front in 1917' (with Dr Harvey Osborne)
Twentieth century British military development, fishing, fisheries and the Royal Navy, the effect of conflict on the landscape and environment.
Publications
‘British Fishermen and Anti-Submarine Warfare during the First World War’, Y. Carbonnier, S. Curveiller and L. Warlouzet (eds), Conflits autour du Détroit du Pas de Calais, (Calais: Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, 2020).
'The Admiralty’s interwar planning with the British fishing industry, 1925–1940', Journal for Maritime Research, January 2020.
‘“Flexible Enough to Adapt”: British Airborne Forces’ Experience during Post Conflict Operations 1944-1946’, British Journal of Military History, 4, 1, 2017.
‘“Shadows of Arnhem: British Airborne Forces and the Aftermath of Operation Market Garden” in J. Buckley and P. Preston-Hough (ed), Operation Market Garden and the Campaign in the Low Countries Autumn 1944: Seventy Years On, (Helion, Solihull, 2016).
Ever Glorious: The Frontline Letters of the Crookenden Brothers 1936-1946, (Helion, Solihull, 2016).
When Opportunity Arises: British Airborne Operations in the Mediterranean, 1941-1944 in A.L. Hargreaves, P.J. Rose and M.C. Ford (ed), Allied Fighting Effectiveness in North Africa and Italy, 1942-1945 (Brill, Leiden, 2014).
Churchill's Spearhead: The Development of Britain's Airborne Forces during the Second World War, (Pen and Sword, Barnsley, 2010).
''...There is, I'm Afraid, no alternative...' The Provision of Transport and Support Aircraft to British Airborne Forces during the Second World War', Air Power Review, 10, 3, Autumn 2007.
'Assessing the Reasons for Failure: 1st British Airborne Division Signal Communications during Operation Market Garden', Defence Studies, 4, 3, Autumn 2004.
Selected conference papers
‘The Admiralty’s interwar planning with the British fishing industry, 1925 – 1940’, Second World War Research Group, Comparative Perspectives Conference, June 2019.
‘British Fishermen and Anti-Submarine Warfare during the First World War’, XIVe siècle à l’Époque Contemporaine, April 2018.
‘“Flexible Enough to Adapt”: British Airborne Forces’ Experience during Post Conflict Operations 1944-1946’, British Commission for Military History New Research Conference, November 2017.
‘‘A Fleeting Opportunity Not Fully Realised’; The Effectiveness of 1st Parachute Brigade during Operation TORCH’, Battle of El Alamein 75th Anniversary Conference, University of Wolverhampton, September 2017.
‘Inhuman Visitors: The German Naval Bombardment of Lowestoft 25 April 1916 and its Effect on Civilian Morale’, The Great War at Home, 83rd Anglo-American Conference of Historians, Institute of Historical Research, June 2014.
'From Colossus to Varsity: The Development of British Airborne Tactical Doctrine during the Second World War', Royal United Services Institute military history seminar, June 2008.
'The British Airborne Experience in the Mediterranean during the Second World War', The Second World War in the Mediterranean conference, King's College London and the Imperial War Museum, July 2008.
Media (TV and radio appearances)
The Norfolk Regiment on the Somme, ITV News East Anglia feature, July 2016.
The Northamptonshire Regiment on the Somme, ITV News East Anglia feature, July 2016.
External Academic Support
The Department of Education Tasmania (2011-2021), support to the Frank MacDonald Memorial Prize programme.
HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) (2014-2019), support to Exercise Arrcade Lightning.
Various British military units, formations and HQs, (2011-2021), support to continuing professional development (CPD) activity, at locations across Europe.
The Department of Education Tasmania (2011-2021), support to the Frank MacDonald Memorial Prize programme.
Teaching at the University of Malta (Erasmus Programme), 2019.
International Guild of Battlefield Guides – accredited member No.44.