The landing of the Allied forces and the fighting in Normandy (1944)

Wire entanglements and fortifications on the Normandy coast.

Map of northwest France showing settlements and railways.

American night bombers take off.

Planes fly over Allied landing ships.

View of the Allied naval armada moving toward the coast of France (top).

American bomber in flight.

Bombs exploding on a target (top).

Dropping bombs on territory occupied by German troops.

The American fleet is fighting in the Atlantic.

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe General D. Eisenhower on board one of the ships.

American planes fly by sea toward the coast of France.

Warships en route to France drop depth charges to protect against German submarines.

Naval artillery fires at German fortifications.

Soldiers prepare to board landing craft.

Landing barges move toward the shore.

British and American landing units land on the French coast during Operation Overlord.

Allied troops occupy one of the strongholds abandoned by the Germans.

Anglo-American troops conduct combat operations after landing on the coast of France and occupying bridgeheads.

American infantry attacks a German fortification.

Allied combat equipment reaches the coast.

Combat and automotive equipment are unloaded from large landing ships.

Pontoons with equipment move toward the shore.

A column of trucks drives out of the water onto the shore.

Engineering equipment for clearing obstacles moves.

American bombers approach their target.

Bombs exploding on the target (above).

View of a German airfield during its assault by Allied aircraft (above).

Assault on German railway trains with troops and equipment (above).

An air strike on a railway junction.

Faces of captured German soldiers.

Escorting German prisoners of war.

German prisoners of war being shipped and embarked on a landing barge.

The Allied fleet approaches the coast of France.

American soldiers on a landing barge before being sent ashore.

Soldiers' faces.

British troops disembark on the French coast via gangplanks lowered from the bow of landing craft.

Anglo-American troops after the landing.

German coastal fortifications captured by the Allies.

Views of the area after the capture of the coastal fortifications (top).

Reports in German newspapers about the beginning of the fighting in France.

Berliners queue at a newsstand.

People reading newspapers.

Map of the French coast.

Airplanes in flight (bottom).

The aftermath of a night air raid.

A German observer surveys the sea.

German coastal guns fire at the Allied fleet.

Allied ships return fire.

German coastal gun crews at work, Allied ships hit.

View of one of the German reinforced concrete coastal fortifications.

An observer with binoculars watches Allied ships from the inside.

German anti-personnel obstacles on the Normandy coast.

German artillery of various systems and calibers firing.

German machine gunners firing.

German soldiers in a fortification firing rifles.

Flamethrower volleys.

The face of a SS non-commissioned officer.

Allied landing craft captured by the Germans on the seashore.

Panorama of a part of the coast.

The face of a German soldier.

German self-propelled artillery moves to the front line.

German self-propelled artillery units fire direct fire.

Shell explosions in Allied battle formations.

A self-propelled gun changes its firing position.

A German machine gun crew fires.

German infantry counterattacks the enemy.

A column of captured British soldiers.

A German observer with binoculars scans the horizon.

German air defense crews aim their guns at air targets.

Firing at air targets.

Bombs exploding on the outskirts of a city, Allied bombers approaching their target (below).

An anti-aircraft gun crew on a railway platform fires at aerial targets.

The gunner looks through the sight.

Bombers fly at high altitude.

Fighters attack the bombers.

Contrails in the sky (below).

A German rangefinder determines the distance to an aerial target.

A damaged aircraft falls.

Buildings are destroyed by bombs, anti-aircraft guns fire.