PHOTOS: On This Day – 6 June 1944, D-Day Began

Posted Jun 05, 2012

By vwilliams

On this day – 1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy begins. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history. (Wikipedia)

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An american soldier wade ashore, June 6, 1944, during the Allied landing operations at the Normandy. Robert Capa/Life
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A company commander briefs his men, using a model of the French invasion coast, prior to the June 6 landings in northern France. Note tense expressions on faces of these men, who study details of terrain during his huddle somewhere in England, June 1944. (AP Photo)
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Sight of a low-flying Allied plane sends Nazi soldiers rushing for shelter on a beach in France, before D-Day June 1944. Their fears were premature; the fliers were taking photos of German coastal barriers in preparation for the invasion, which took place June 6. (AP Photo)
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American troops embarking in landing craft at a British port on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Part of the R.A.F. air armada before it set off for the French coast on the evening June 6th. A double row of Horsa gliders is flanked on each side by a row of Halifaxes, and in the left distance can be seen several of the new British Hamilcar gliders June 6, 1944 which carry light tanks. Note the contempt for the Luftwaffe shown by the orderly lines in which the planes are drawn up. (AP Photo)
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A big U.S. army field kitchen is rolled up the open bow of an LST (Landing Ship, Tanks), during loading operations at an English invasion Port on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Members of an American armored unit at a Marshalling are “somewhere in England” on June 6, 1944, are briefed by their commanding officer prior to receiving their “D-Day” assignments. (AP Photo)
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Airborne troops prepare for the descent on Europe on June 6th. Line-up of parachute dropping stirlings (aircraft) ranged either side of the runway on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Under the white ensign of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, left, Allied naval commander-in-chief, watches the invasion fleet en route to France on June 6, 1944 from the bridge of a motor torpedo boat. (AP Photo)
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Men, barges, landing craft and assault vehicles storm ashore on a beach in France on D-Day on June 6, 1944. The Allied forces in action during the invasion of the European continent. (AP Photo)
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In this image provided by the U.S. Army, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, gives the order of the day, “Full victory--nothing else” to paratroopers somewhere in England on June 6, 1944 just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)
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This is the scene censors viewed as the two-millionth foot of motion picture film reviewed since D-Day reached the screen at SHAEF film censorship theater and showed U.S. Gen, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, talking with men of the American Divison D-Day, June 6,1944. (AP Photo)
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A returning B-24 Liberator of the U.S. Eighth Army Air Force passes over part of the invasion armada as the boats steam across the channel toward the coast of Northern France, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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The 15-inch guns of warspite shelling German invasion coast positions on the Normandy coast on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Mushrooms of smoke and flame billow out from the giant USS Nevada as the battleship provides artillery support for Allied ground forces in France by hammering enemy installations from her vantage point in the English Channel, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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A U.S. Coast Guard LCI, heavily listing to port, moves alongside a transport ship to evacuate her troops, during the initial Normandy landing operations in France, on June 6, 1944. Moments later the craft will capsize and sink. Note that helmeted infantrymen, with full packs, are all standing to starboard side of the ship. (AP Photo)
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Bouncing about on the rough waters of the Channel, these landing craft loaded with assault troops head for the shore of the French coast early in the dawn of D-Day, June 6, 1944. In the surprise invasion attack, the allies suffered a minimum loss and have succeeded in cutting a 29-mile wedge in the Cherbourg Penninsular. (AP Photo)
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Off the British coast, this huge fleet of warships, transports and landing craft awaits the signal to get underway for the allied invasion of Northern France, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Canadian troops in landing crafts approach a stretch of coastline code-named Juno Beach, near Bernieres-sur-mer, as the Allied Normandy invasion gets under way, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Out of the open bow doors of a Landing Craft, American troops and jeeps go ashore on the beach of the Normandy coast of France, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Men and assault vehicles storm the Normandy Beach of France, as allied landing craft arrive at their destination on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Note men coming ashore in surf and vehicles starting inland. (AP Photo)
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Allied landings craft of unidentified type, right, burns just off the shore somewhere on the north coast of France on June 6, 1944 during the invasion of Fortress Europe. (AP Photo)
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Glider borne troops crossing the Channel ships of the Royal Navy on June 6, 1944. In the background are the battleships Warspite and Ramillies. (AP Photo)
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Along the British coast, this huge fleet of war transports and landing craft awaits the signal to get underway for the Allied invasion of northern France on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Landing craft loaded with American troops and with barrage balloons attached ready to invade the French coast on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Landing craft loaded with American troops pass other landing craft lining the dock side while in foreground, other craft take on equipment on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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A fleet of landing craft standing by at an England port ready to receive the invasion troops, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Out of the open bow doors of a landing craft, American men and jeeps pour ashore on the beach of the Normandy coast of France on June 6, 1944, for the opening of the second front invasion of Europe. Allied troops, carried across the channel from England in an armada of 4000 ships, have established a 100-mile front along the coast. (AP Photo/U.S. Signal Corps)
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The spirit of these G.I.'s are high as their landing crafts set out for the shores of France, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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While under attack of heavy machine gun fire from the German coastal defense forces, these American soldiers wade ashore off the ramp of a U.S. Coast Guard landing craft, June 6, 1944, during the Allied landing operations at the Normandy. (AP Photo)
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Some of the first assault troops to hit the beachhead hide behind enemy beach obstacles to fire on the Germans, others follow the first tanks plunging through water towards the Normandy shore on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Some of the first assault troops to hit the beachhead hide behind enemy beach obstacles to fire on the Germans, on a Normandy beach, on June 6, 1944. Landing craft in background, trying to unload more troops. (AP Photo)
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“Ducks” (amphibious trucks) and a half-track follow foot troops ashore during opening of invasion of France on a 100-mile front along the Normandy coast by Allied force on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Men of the American assault troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment, injured while storming a coastal area code-named Omaha Beach during the Allied invasion of the Normandy, wait by the chalk cliffs at Collville-sur-Mer for evacuation to a field hospital for further treatment, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Members of an American landing unit help their exhausted comrades ashore during the Normandy invasion, June 6, 1944. The men reached the zone code-named Utah Beach, near Sainte Mere Eglise, on a life raft after their landing craft was hit and sunk by German coastal defenses. (AP Photo)
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Armored vehicles arriving at a British Port for transportation to France on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Landing craft loaded for invasion assault LCT’s are loaded with half tracks and other armored vehicles by American Troops, at an Embarkation point in England on June 6, 1944 just before they set sail for the D-day invasion of the French coast. (AP Photo)
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Crewmen maintain an alert at their gun stations on five-inch weapons aboard an invasion craft, one of the huge armada which carried Allied forces to the French Coast for the long-awaited assault on fortress Europe on June 6, 1944. Manning the gun in foreground is Boatswain’s Mate 1/C Ferrell Browening of Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo)
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These members of the first groups of assault troops to take part in the Allied invasion of Northern France receive benediction from an Army chaplain before leaving England on June 6, 1944, for the European continent. Their assault craft are in the background. (AP Photo)
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Ducks (amphibious trucks) and a half-track follow foot troops ashore during the invasion of Normandy on a 100-mile front along the French coast by allied forces on June 6, 1944. This was a turning point for the Allies in World War II, known as D-Day. (AP Photo)
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In this photo provided by the British Navy, wounded British troops from the South Lancashire and Middlesex regiments are being helped ashore at Sword Beach, June 6, 1944, during the D-Day invasion of German occupied France during World War II. (AP Photo/British Navy)
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Ducks (amphibious trucks) and a half-track follow foot troops ashore during the World War II opening invasion of France on a 100-mile front along the Normandy coast by Allied forces on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)
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American soldiers and supplies arrive on the shore of the French coast of German-occupied Normandy during the Allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 in World War II. (AP Photo)
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British troops make their way through low water and up the beach after leaving landing craft which transported them across the Channel to the Normandy beachhead for D-Day invasion in France, June 6, 1944 in World War II. (AP Photo/Official British photo)
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Carrying full equipment, American assault troops move onto a beachhead code-named Omaha Beach, on the northern coast of France on June 6, 1944, during the Allied invasion of the Normandy coast. (AP Photo)
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Sitting in the cover of their foxholes, American soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force secure a beachhead during initial landing operations at Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. In the background amphibious tanks and other equipment crowd the beach, while landing craft bring more troops and material ashore. (AP Photo/Weston Haynes)
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German prisoners of war are led away by Allied forces from Utah Beach, on June 6, 1944, during landing operations at the Normandy coast, France. (AP Photo)
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Soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Flotilla are carrying bicycles as they disembark their LCI's at a beachhead code-named Juno Beach, at Bernieres-sur-mer, during the Allied invasion of the Normandy on June 6, 1944, . (AP Photo)
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Soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Flotilla are seen as they establish a beachhead code-named Juno Beach, near Bernieres-sur-mer, on the northern coast of France, on June 6, 1944, during the Allied invasion of the Normandy. (AP Photo)
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In this photo provided by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, U.S. paratroopers fix their static lines before a jump before dawn over Normandy on D-Day June 6, 1944, in France. The decision to launch the airborne attack in darkness instead of waiting for first light was probably one of the few Allied missteps on June 6, and there was much to criticize both in the training and equipment given to paratroopers and glider-borne troops of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions. Improvements were called for after the invasion; the hard-won knowledge would be used to advantage later. (AP Photo/U.S. Army Signal Corps)
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American troops move over the crest of a hill to the interior of Northern France, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Lt. William V. Patten, centre of group, wearing overseas cap, briefs his crew at a port in England before the invasion of France began June 6, 1944. Patten and his ship are veterans of Tunisia, Salerno, Anzio and Licata. (AP Photo)
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In this photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a U.S. Coast Guard landing barge, tightly packed with helmeted soldiers, approaches the shore at Normandy, France, during initial Allied landing operations, June 6, 1944. These barges ride back and forth across the English Channel, bringing wave after wave of reinforcement troops to the Allied beachheads. (AP Photo)
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American Soldiers equiped with full pack and extra allotments of ammunition, march down ian english street to their invasion craft for embarkation on June 6, 1944.(AP Photo)
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Men and supplies are being ferried out to landing crafts enroute for the initial Allied invasion of the Normandy, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo/Peter Carroll)
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French civilians give a warm welcome to American paratroopers, members of the Allied expeditionary force, which landed in northern France, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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A French civilian points out the way for an American soldier who landed with the Allied expeditionary force in northern France, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Landing craft packed with American troops ready to set sail from a British port to invade France, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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First American casualty in the Western European invasion is lifted from an airplane after arriving back in England, June 6, 1944. He is a paratrooper who received a head wound from enemy small-arms fire. (AP Photo)
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Fully equipped, and each carrying large amounts of ammunition, American troops climb aboard a landing craft somewhere in England on June 6, 1944 for the cross-channel invasion of France. Other landing craft are seeing in background. (AP Photo)
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An American infantryman receives his rations of candy and cigarettes, somewhere in England on June 6, 1944, before embarking with other troops for the assault on the French coast, to open the long-awaited second front invasion. (AP Photo)
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Beneath an air screen of barrage balloons, British tanks and equipment are unloaded from landing craft on beach of Normandy coast of France on June 6, 1944 for use in second phase of invasion the repelling of anticipated counterattacks in force by the enemy. (AP Photo/British Official Photo)
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The Hulks of wrecked landing craft lie on the beach (foreground) and sunken vessels which formed breakwater for ships in the D-Day landing at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France on June 6, 1944, lie offshore in quiet which contrasts with the fierce fighting when the allies first invaded the Fortress Europe from across the Channel. Many of the scars of battle have been erased, but these Hulks remain as beachhead a year after D-Day. (AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll)
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A member of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps communicates with his supply center by field telephone from an emergency first aid station set up on one of the French beachheads to treat Allied wounded during the initial landings in France on June 6, 1944. The concrete wall which gives shelter to the station was part of the German beach defenses. In the background, U.S. troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force crouch behind a hastily constructed gun emplacement. (AP Photo/Weston Haynes)
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Special service troops (commandos) fight way inland from French beaches under enemy shell, mortar and sniper fire. The British troops pushed inland on one of the Normandy beaches in France on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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In Piccadilly Circus crowds of Londoners read the first news of the invasion in the editions of the evening papers, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Special Service Troops, Commandoes, getting ready for the Liberation of Europe and embarking at a coastal port. Engineers carry all their own explosives for special assignments. In this photograph special services troops are having their kits checked over to see that everything is correct, somewhere in England, on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Scenes on a Normandy beachhead as crack British troops made their first landing, on June 6, 1944 in France. Picture from British Army Film Unit. (AP Photo)
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Explosions from bombs dropped on a road junction at Argetan, 35, miles south east of Caen on June 6 and 7, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Following the first Allied landings on the French coast troops at once began to push inland. Passing through French villages, they were given a warm welcome by the inhabitants. 105mm self-propelled guns in action at the side of a field on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Following the first Allied landings on the French coast troops at once began to push inland. Passing through French villages, they were given a warm welcome by the inhabitants. An Allied carrier passes through a captured village on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)
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Canadian invasion troops stand guard over the first German prisoners captured during the assault on France by Allied forces on June 6, 1944 along a 100 mile front on the Normandy coast between LeHavre and Cherbourg. Wounded soldiers are being treated, in the background. At extreme bear are German coastal fortifications of masonry, silenced by the invaders. (AP Photo)
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Following the initial landings on the French coast, Allied troops at once began to push inland. Passing through Normandy villages they were given warm welcome by the inhabitants. British Commandos passing through the streets of a town near Caen on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo)