The Normandy Landings

Delayed a day by weather, the Allied invasion of occupied France began before dawn with airborne landings and, at first light, an assault on five beaches by British, American, Canadian and Free French forces. Some 4,400 Allied soldiers died on the first day, more than half of them at Omaha.

By nightfall the beachheads held. Nearly ten thousand Americans are buried on the bluff above Omaha; German, British and Canadian cemeteries lie within a few kilometres.