IT WAS the biggest amphibious invasion forces ever sent to war.
And as the world comes towards marking the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings, The News is sharing these amazing photos that capture the event as it unfolded.
Picture released on June 5, 1944 of the British troops embarking at Southsea, Portsmouth in England, before a landing craft on June 6, 1944 while Allied forces storm the Normandy beaches on D-Day. / AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO AND Imperial War Museum / (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)
Taking place on June 6, the D-Day landings turned the tide of the war and involved more than 100,000 Allied troops – many of whom set sail from Portsmouth.
The mission to invade Normandy and liberate the French from Nazi rule was planned in Southwick and codenamed Operation Overlord.
Infantry Advances 9th August 1944: US infantrymen make their way past a wrecked German truck on the way to Avranches during the Allied invasion of Normandy. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
The landings themselves, more commonly known as D-Day, were codenamed Operation Neptune.
Landing Craft 6th June 1944: A landing craft bound for Normandy. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Survivors Ashore 6th June 1944: Survivors from a landing craft which sank off Omaha Beach, Normandy, come safely ashore on a life raft. (Photo by Weintraub/Keystone/Getty Images)
6th June 1944: American assault troops wading ashore on Omaha beachhead in Normandy. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
Convoy To Normandy June 1944: Members of the 9th Air Force watch a long line of landing craft carrying barrage balloons, on their way over to Normandy. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
1944: American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) travelling with US soldiers, in his capacity as war correspondent, on their way to Normandy for the D-Day landings. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)
D-Day Bombers 7th June 1944: Bomber crews of the US Ninth Airforce leave their B26 Marauder aircraft after returning from a mission to support the D-Day landings in Normandy by disrupting German lines of communication and supply. (Photo by Fred Ramage/Keystone/Getty Images)
Normandy Landings 6th June 1944: American medics administer first aid to wounded soldiers on Utah beach in Normandy, France, whilst in the background other troops 'dig-in' in the soft sand. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Reinforcements. Paratroopers give the thumbs-up signal, before leaving in a glider to drop on Normandy as reinforcements to the invasion forces. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Asleep In A Trench 1944: An American GI asleep in a trench in Normandy. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)
Paratroopers Relax. US paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division relaxing after liberating the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise in Normandy, during World War II, 8th June 1944. The shoulder patch of the nearest standing soldier has been erased, presumably by the censors. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
Juno Beach D-Day Landings. Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, during the D-Day landings, 6th June 1944. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Normandy Beachhead 14th July 1944: Fleets of US transport and landing craft disgorge reinforcements and supplies for the US troops who liberated the Contentin peninsula, the deep-water port of Cherbourg and the communication centre of La Haye du Puits. Barrage balloons float overhead as protection against German strafing aeroplanes, which did not appear. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
Normandy Troops 14th June 1944: Reinforcements disembark from a landing craft, aboard a Bren Gun Carrier newly arrived in Normandy from Britain. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images)
British Commandos 6th June 1944: British commandos who landed in Normandy on 6th June set out to capture a Nazi gun site, which is protected by enemy snipers. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
