Men from the 1st Division, the Big Red One, wade towards the shore. Soaked, seasick, covered in salt sprayed on them during hours in open landing craft, taking intense and accurate fire from machine guns, mortars and heavy artillery, it is difficult to imagine a more awful experience.

Troops take cover behind beach obstacles. Tens of thousands of these stakes, sometimes called "Rommel's Asparagus", lined all the landing beaches and were designed to flip landing craft. Every third one was topped with a mine. The existence of these obstacles forced the Allies to attempt the landings at low tide, meaning assault troops had to cross open beaches which were carefully prepared killing zones.

Men take cover in the surf as the landing craft that dropped them off turn around and return for another load. For these men there was nowhere to retreat. The only path was forward.

A shot taken by a Coast Guard photographer titled "Into the Jaws of Death". I was not able to wade into the surf to get the correct distance from the bluffs, though this gives one an idea of the beach that had to be crossed.

This is an anti-tank gun bunker in front of Vierville, at the western end of the beach. The men from Able Company landed in front of this bunker. The gunners were credited with destroying a number of American tanks on the beaches before being neutralized by a shell fired directly into the embrasure, which was essentially the only way to knock out the positions. Note the impact mark above the embrasure. Today it serves as the National Guard Memorial.

Americans killed on the beach have been collected and are awaiting burial.

A Navy communications command post has been set up on the seawall to coordinate further landings in the hours after the beach was cleared.

A halftrack drives through the beach exit in Easy Red sector, the first draw to fall to the Americans.

American troops advance inland through the Easy Red draw, below them is a knocked out German anti-tank bunker. There are German bunkers still in place all along the bluffs on the edge of farmers fields that have been overgrown by thick brush.

Unloading supplies on the beach.

In the days after D-Day American equipment presses inland through the town of Colleville, just behind the beach. This is part of a series of photos hung throughout the town to commemorate liberation by the Americans.

French civilians turn out to greet American troops pushing inland.

GIs file past the ruined church at Colleville. The ubiquitous churches in Normandy offered the best vantage points for German artillery spotters and snipers, and soon the Allies learned to destroy the tall steeples as a matter of course.

The observation bunker at Pointe du Hoc has been restored.
Several kilometres west of Omaha Beach is Pointe du Hoc. Atop sheer 90 foot cliffs overlooking the ocean the Germans had emplaced a heavy coastal artillery battery that could potentially wreak havoc on the fleets steaming towards Omaha and Utah. The decision was taken to neutralize the guns by a daring assault by American Rangers, who would scale the cliffs and seize the positions. On the morning of June 6, 225 Rangers launched grappling hooks up the cliffs, and in the face of heavy German fire, scaled the cliffs and seized the bunkers, only to find that the guns had already been moved inland.

For the next two days the Rangers awaited relief from the forces at Omaha Beach, all the while fending off ferocious German counterattacks. When the main invasion force finally linked up with the beleagured Rangers, only 90 of the original 225 men were still standing. Remarkably, after the war the battlefield was left as it was and the land was gifted to the United States by France. All the crumbling German bunkers and deep craters from the bombardment remain there today

Colonel Rudder's temporary headquarters set up beside the blasted remnants of a German anti-aircraft bunker at Pointe Du Hoc on D-Day+2. I'm about five feet off from the right perspective, a fence was preventing me from getting any closer.