Past vs. Present Pics of Normandy D-Day Landing Sites

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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 Beach

 

 

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 landings

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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, France

 

 

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

 

 

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, France

 

 

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, France

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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 Mer

 

 

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

 

 

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, France

 

 

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

 

 

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, France

 

 

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, France

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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, France

 

 

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

 

 

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, France

 

 

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

 

[penpal5555 17]

Facinating, I visited some of these areas in 1980 while stationed in Germany. Hard to believe how it was then and now.  Thanks for this great post.