Today is the 73rd anniversary of that June 6, 1944, invasion of France that saw one of the largest forces ever assembled for battle on land, sea and air.
Some 156,000 American, British and Canadian troops attacked German defenders along a 50-mile stretch of heavily defended Normandy coastline.
An estimated 4,000 Allied troops were killed, but by the end of the day the beachheads had been secured in an invasion that was called the beginning of the end of the war in Europe.
