61 fascinating D-Day photos showing what the historic landings were really like

American soldiers and sailors in the British Isles are conducting manoeuvers in various parts of Britain, practising land operations, invasion tactics and attack problems. The exercises are full dress rehearsals for the finale of the European war. Here troops fall onto the beach prepared for any eventualities. Historic D-Day photographs from numerous sources American and British.

D Day.

June 10, 1944 - Wounded Nazi Gunner Under Guard - Wounded and dazed, a German gunner is ushered out of his dugout by a watchful Army M.P. following the surrender somewhere along the French coast.

OFFICIAL U.S. COAST GUARD PHOTO. GERMAN PRISONERS ABOARD A COAST GUARD-MANNED TRANSPORT.

Being an Allied prisoner doesn't seem to be a disagreeable lot for a German soldier these days. These Nazi Officers and enlisted men, captured in France, laugh and joke among themselves as they line the rail of a Coast Guard manned transport bringing them to the safety of an internment camp in the United States. Coast Guard Lieut. RJ Campbell, Jr keeps an eye on them.

Picture released: June 20, 1944. BRIEF 'TIME OUT' ON THE INVASION FRONT - Exhausted from their rapid advance inland from the Normandy beachhead, U.S. soldiers relax for a few minutes outside a French cafe.

German prisoners of war marching across Normandy beach. Beached cargo vessel behind.

Photograph taken from HMS Frobisher showing landing craft approaching Arromanches (Gold Beach) on DDay.

King George VI views the plotting table at Fort Southwick.

Photograph of beach defences and troops.

The night of the 5th June 1944 - 'The Way Over' [probably S.France invasion].

4 June 1944. Standing on a promontory in plain view of Nazi batteries, U.S. Army and Navy officers watch Allied planes deliver a thunderous bombardment against enemy forts guarding Cherbourg harbour. When picture was taken, the background was one of the two remaining bastions held by the Nazis on the approaches to the harbour.

A bulldozer on a French beach (possibly Arromanches) with houses and landing craft in the background. "Store 6b, Depot Gold" is written on the rear of the bulldozer.

A view of a construction site with a large concrete mixer in the right and a tower crane in the centre of the image. In the centre foreground of the image is probably Winston Churchill. A group of workers are gathering in front of him as he approaches. The image probably shows an official visit to one of the Mulberry Harbour construction sites.

Men of the Hampshires in Arromanches on DDay. The children are Jean Groudin and Odette Cheviot

An aerial view of the D Day landings - one of a selection of aerial photographs taken by the RAF over Western Europe in the Second World War. Archivists are marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day by releasing around 1,000 high-resolution aerial reconnaissance images taken by RAF crews before and during Operation Overlord. The astonishing images - some of which depict the actual moment at which Allied troops set foot on the Normandy shoreline - are held at The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives (TARA) at Keele University in Staffordshire. PA Photo Aerial Reconnaissance Archives.

1946 photo of Pegasus Bridge with from left Georges Gondree the Proprietor of Cafe Gondree - now the Pegasus Bridge Cafe, Major John Howard DSO and Capt. David Wood. See PA story D-DAY Pegasus. PA photo.

An aerial view of the D Day landings - one of a selection of aerial photographs taken by the RAF over Western Europe in the Second World War. Archivists are marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day by releasing around 1,000 high-resolution aerial reconnaissance images taken by RAF crews before and during Operation Overlord. The astonishing images - some of which depict the actual moment at which Allied troops set foot on the Normandy shoreline - are held at The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives (TARA) at Keele University in Staffordshire. See PA Story D-Day Aerial. PA Photo Aerial Reconnaissance Archives.

Fleet of boats head out to sea

D Day scene at Gosport

A Royal Marine flotilla of landing craft assault forming up in the channel on the night of the 5th June 1944

Citizens of Cherbourg, France join American troops in Flag presentation ceremonies in the port square.

Normandy, France - troops and tanks on a landing beach.

Les McConnell of Milton, as a boy in Portsmouth at the time pf D day during a visit by Field Marshal Montgomery.

Troops prepare to board ship

Soldiers landing on the beach, DDay 1944

'South coast town' scene 5/6/44 American Field Howitzer unit wait for embarkation

Men of the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment occupy a German Gun position overlooking Arromanches DDay 6/6/44

The dog called Barri belongs to the Germans. Photo taken in Arromanches on DDay - men of the Hampshire Regiment have taken the town. Barri renamed Fritz became the Regiment Mascot of the Royal Hampshire Regiment