D-Day Landing Sites Then and Now: Normandy Beaches in 1944 and 70 Years Later

On June 6, 1944, Allied soldiers descended on the beaches of Normandy for D-Day, an operation that turned the tide of the Second World War against the Nazis, marking the beginning of the end of the conflict.

Today, as many around the world prepare to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the landings, pictures of tourists soaking up the sun on Normandy's beaches stand in stark contrast to images taken around the time of the invasion.

Reuters photographer Chris Helgren compiled archive pictures taken during the invasion and went back to the same places to photograph them as they appear today.

June 5, 1944: The 2nd Battalion US Army Rangers march to their landing craft in 
Weymouth, England. They were tasked with capturing the German heavy coastal 
defence battery at Pointe du Hoc to the west of the D-Day landing zone of Omaha 
BeachReuters

Tourists walk along the beach-front in the Dorset holiday town of Weymouth. The port
 was the departure point for thousands of Allied troops who took part in the D-Day
 landingsReuters

June 6, 1944: US reinforcements land on Omaha beach during the Normandy D-Day
 landings near Vierville sur Mer, FranceReuters

Holidaymakers enjoy the sunshine on the former D-Day landing zone of Omaha beach 
near Vierville sur Mer, FranceReuters

June 6, 1944: Members of an American landing party assist troops whose landing craft 
was sunk by enemy fire off Omaha beach, near Colleville sur Mer, FranceReuters

A tourist carries a bucket and spade to her child on the former D-Day landing zone of 
Omaha beach, near Colleville sur Mer, FranceReuters

June 6, 1944: US Army soldiers of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, move 
out over the seawall on Utah Beach after coming ashore in front of a concrete wall near
La Madeleine, FranceReuters

Children walk over the remains of a concrete wall on the former Utah Beach D-Day 
landing zone near La Madeleine, FranceReuters

June 6, 1944: A Cromwell tank leads a British Army column from the 4th County of 
London Yeomanry, 7th Armoured Division, after landing on Gold Beach on D-Day in 
Ver-sur-Mer, FranceReuters

A couple walk inland from the former D-Day landing zone of Gold Beach where British 
forces came ashore in 1944, in Ver-sur-Mer, FranceReuters

June 194: A crashed US fighter plane is seen on the waterfront some time after Canadian 
forces came ashore on a Juno Beach D-Day landing zone in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, France
Reuters

Tourists enjoy the sunshine on the former Juno Beach D-Day landing zone, where 
Canadian forces came ashore, in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, FranceReuters

June 6, 1944: US Army troops make a battle plan in a farmyard amid cattle, killed by 
artillery bursts, near the D-Day landing zone of Utah Beach in Les Dunes de Varreville, 
FranceReuters

Farmer Raymond Bertot, who was 19 when allied troops came ashore in 1944, poses 
on his property near the former D-Day landing zone of Utah Beach in Les Dunes de 
Varreville, FranceReuters

June 7, 1944: US Army troops congregate around a signal post used by engineers on 
the site of a captured German bunker overlooking Omaha Beach after the D-Day landings 
near Saint Laurent sur MerReuters

Tourists walk past a former German bunker overlooking the D-Day landing zone on 
Omaha Beach near Saint Laurent sur Mer, FranceReuters

June 18, 1944: US Army reinforcements march up a hill past a German bunker overlooking
 Omaha Beach after the D-Day landings near Colleville sur Mer, FranceReuters

Youths hike up a hill past an old German bunker overlooking the former D-Day landing 
zone of Omaha Beach near Colleville sur Mer, FranceReuters

June 8, 1944: A US flag lies as a marker on a destroyed bunker two days after the 
strategic site overlooking D-Day beaches was captured by US Army Rangers at Pointe 
du Hoc, FranceReuters

An Italian tourist views a bunker at a strategic site overlooking the D-Day beaches 
which had been captured by US Army Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, FranceReuters

July 1944: Canadian troops patrol along the destroyed Rue Saint-Pierre after German 
forces were dislodged from CaenReuters

Shoppers walk along the rebuilt Rue Saint-Pierre in Caen, which was destroyed following 
the D-Day landingsReuters

June 15, 1944: The body of a dead German soldier lies in the main square of Place Du 
Marche in Trevieres after the town was taken by US troops who landed at nearby Omaha 
BeachReuters

Tourists walk across the main square of Place Du Marche in Trevieres, near the former 
D-Day landing zone of Omaha BeachReuters

June 6, 1944: US Army paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division drive a captured 
German Kubelwagen at the junction of Rue Holgate and RN13 in Carentan, France
Reuters

Girls run across the street at the junction of Rue Holgate and RN13 in the Normandy 
town of Carentan, FranceReuters

June 6, 1944: German prisoners-of-war march along Juno Beach landing area to a ship 
taking them to England, after they were captured by Canadian troops at Bernieres Sur
Mer, FranceReuters

A tourist sunbathes on a former Juno Beach landing area where Canadian troops came 
ashore on D-Day at Bernieres Sur Mer, FranceReuters

August 21, 1944: German prisoners of war captured after the D-Day landings in Normandy 
are guarded by US troops at a camp in Nonant-le-Pin, FranceReuters

A farm field remains where German prisoners of war were interned following the D-Day 
landings in Nonant-le-Pin, NormandyReuters