By night, 10,000 had died.

OPERATION Overlord was the biggest seaborne invasion in military history. More than 150,000 men, ferried across the English Channel in more than 4000 ships, landed on five Normandy beaches on D-Day, June 6, 1944. They faced a fortified coast bristling with German troops.

The invasion of Nazi-occupied France was the turning point of the World War 2. It took more than four years to plan and established a bridgehead for the Allies who battled to bring an end to the war on VE Day the following year.

At five minutes past midnight on D-Day the first action took place with coastal guns being bombed. British airborne troops attacked Pegasus Bridge 15 minutes later and beach landings started at 6.30am.

Gold beach saw 24,970 British troops land with a loss of 413 lives. On Sword Beach, 28,845 British soldiers landed with the loss of 630. Canadian and British troops landed 21,400 on Juno beach, with 900 killed or wounded. The Americans lost more than 2000 after landing 34,500 soldiers at Omaha beach. On Utah beach US forces landed 23,250. By evening, 155,000 men were ashore, plus 23,000 airborne troops by nightfall 10,000 had died.

By August the Allies had 210,000 casualties, including almost 37,000 dead. German dead totalled 65,000.

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Battle: Troops on D-Day