Working research and developing ideas
What lies behind the published studies
Research Dispatches are regular updates that capture the development of battlefield studies as they progress. They bring together emerging patterns, terrain observations, and working interpretations drawn from multiple field visits, sources, and case studies.
Unlike Field Notes, which focus on specific locations, these dispatches track the thinking behind the work—how ideas form, evolve, and connect across different battles, environments, and periods.
- Field Notes – Raw observations directly from the battlefields
- Research Dispatches – Consolidated monthly updates on newly published articles, works in progress, and research insights
- Tactical Innovations – The key moments of military history when new weapons, tactics or doctrine fundamentally changed the way wars were fought.
Field Notes and Research Dispatches are membership content
$9 per month gives you full access to the complete archive plus all new Field Notes, Tactical Innovations, and Research Dispatches as they are published.
I am adding new notes regularly — there will eventually be hundreds of them as I transcribe my notes and continue exploring battlefields around the world.
Latest Research Dispatches
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⚡🔒Research Dispatch June 2026: Culloden bayonet drill, Podcasts, Field Notes, and Spion Kop
Research Dispatches provide updates on current and future BattlefieldTravels research and publications. The June 2026 Dispatch provides recent publications (1866 Koniggratz, Culloden bayonet drill, new Podcast episodes, Nghia Lo) Articles in progress (Airmobility, Rhodesian Fire Force, Eben Emael). Plus a mini case study on Battle of Spion Kop historiography.
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⚡🔒Research Dispatch May 2026: Field Notes, Pike and Shot, and Coup d’Œil
Research Dispatches provide updates on current and future BattlefieldTravels research and publications. The May 2026 Dispatch provides: recent publications (Pike and Shot) Orleans 1429), articles in progress (Austerlitz, Nghia Lo), emerging insights, special insights, special research projects (what Frderick and Clausewitz meant by coup d’oeil)
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⚡🔒 Research Dispatch April 2026: Pegasus Bridge, Ukraine, Tactical Innovation
Research Dispatches provide updates on current and future BattlefieldTravels research and publications. The April 2026 Research Dispatch provides: recent publications, articles in progress (Pegasus Bridge, Ukraine, Tactical Innovation), emerging insights, special insights, special research projects, and new features on battlefieldtravels.com
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⚡🔒Research Dispatch March 2026: Pegasus Bridge, Orléans, and Nghĩa Lộ
Research Dispatches provide updates on current and future BattlefieldTravels research and publications. The March 2026 Research Dispatch provides: recent publications, articles in progress (Pegasus Bridge, Orléans, and Nghĩa Lộ), emerging insights, special insights, and new features on battlefieldtravels.com
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Authored by Mick Prictor, a retired military officer with 40 years’ service, and a military historian specialising in terrain-focused analysis of tactics, doctrine, and command decision-making in land warfare. His work draws on extensive battlefield fieldwork—more than 280 sites worldwide—and one of the world’s largest private collections of historic military arms, uniforms, and equipment. About me
FAQ: Behind the Scenes – Field Notes
Research Dispatches capture the ongoing development of battlefield studies—emerging patterns, terrain observations, and working interpretations as they are being developed. They bring together insights from multiple Field Notes, sources, and case studies rather than focusing on a single location.
Field Notes focus on specific battlefield locations and ground-level observations. Research Dispatches take a broader view, linking those observations together to identify patterns in terrain use, command decisions, and battlefield outcomes across different periods and conflicts.
Each dispatch typically includes a summary of recent work, followed by deeper analysis exploring patterns, comparisons, and developing ideas. These posts reflect the research process in motion and are updated regularly as new Field Notes and studies are produced.
Research Dispatches contain the developing analysis behind the published studies—how conclusions are formed, tested, and refined. They form part of the ongoing research layer that supports continued battlefield exploration and writing.
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