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DAY OF DESTINY

Full horror of D-Day Normandy landings revealed in rare photos taken from soldier’s point of view

Allied forces suffered more than 10,000 casualties during the first assault on the beaches

THE FULL horror facing soldiers during the D-Day landings has been laid bare in a harrowing new book.

Terrifying pictures of the Normandy landings include a haunting image of a corpse washed up against sea defences and a photo capturing the fear and trepidation in the eyes of a wounded soldier under fire.

The 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry begins its invasion of Europe at 7.30am
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The 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry begins its invasion of Europe at 7.30amCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A corpse lies washed up against sea defences in Normandy, France
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A corpse lies washed up against sea defences in Normandy, FranceCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA

Other incredible images include a rare soldier’s perspective of the battle through a port hole, soldiers wading towards the shore under a hail of gunfire, and a soon-to-be German prisoner buried up to his chest in a collapsed trench.

Historian Brooke S. Blades’ new book The Americans On D-Day And In Normandy: Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives offers an enthralling and gruesome insight into what the American soldiers faced on the D-day landings of 6 June 1944.

D-Day saw tens of thousands of courageous allied soldiers face up to the terrifying prospect of landing on France’s northern shoreline to liberate Europe.

Omaha Beach and other Normandy locations are sacred places to many today.

Brooke Blades

Blades wrote: “Omaha Beach and other Normandy locations are sacred places to many today.

“The D-Day beaches were in large measure the primary gateways, the low doors in the Atlantic Wall that led, through heroism, suffering and sacrifice, to the liberation of Western Europe.

“This volume proposes to revitalise both landscape and person, at least for the Americans who were there and the civilians they encountered.

On D-Day, more than 132,000 ground troops and 18,000 paratroopers flooded to Normandy to take back North West Europe from the Nazi forces.

Given the incredible scale of the invasion and the dangers, the allied forces suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

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The number of German dead ranges anywhere between 4,000 and 9,000.

Blades was determined to use his collection of photographs to remind the free world of the sacrifices made by the allied troops during one of the bloodiest periods of the Second World War.

In the weeks after the landings, including D-Day itself, the Battle of Normandy saw over 425,000 Allied and German troops killed, wounded or missing.

Rubble and burning houses in Carentan near Normandy, where the Germans wanted to re-establish their defence of the town
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Rubble and burning houses in Carentan near Normandy, where the Germans wanted to re-establish their defence of the townCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
An injured soldier receives blood plasma on the beaches of Normandy
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An injured soldier receives blood plasma on the beaches of NormandyCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
An American medic puts a bandage on the hand of an American soldier who has been injured by a mine blast
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 An American medic puts a bandage on the hand of an American soldier who has been injured by a mine blastCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A group from the 2nd Ranger Battalion including a .30 calibre machine gun take up an offensive position early in the Normandy invasion
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A group from the 2nd Ranger Battalion including a .30 calibre machine gun take up an offensive position early in the Normandy invasionCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A rare view through porthole behind an anti-aircraft mount shows the assault on Normandy
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A rare view through porthole behind an anti-aircraft mount shows the assault on NormandyCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A rifle squad with a captured Nazi flag, one of the prized items sought by troops
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A rifle squad with a captured Nazi flag, one of the prized items sought by troopsCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A German soldier lies partially buried after a trench collapsed due to artillery shelling
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A German soldier lies partially buried after a trench collapsed due to artillery shellingCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
Soldiers and prisoners at Pointe du Hoc on 12 June, 1944
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Soldiers and prisoners at Pointe du Hoc on 12 June, 1944Credit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A group of American assault troops who stormed a beachhead gain the comparative safety offered by the chalk cliff
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A group of American assault troops who stormed a beachhead gain the comparative safety offered by the chalk cliffCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A ruined LCI 91 struck by artillery and possibly mines, from which no one in the forward compartment escaped
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A ruined LCI 91 struck by artillery and possibly mines, from which no one in the forward compartment escapedCredit: Mediadrumimages / Bernard Lebrec
Nervous soldiers brace themselves for the bloody invasion along Normandy
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Nervous soldiers brace themselves for the bloody invasion along NormandyCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
A soldier peers through the devastation, wary of enemy fire on the edge of a small French town
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A soldier peers through the devastation, wary of enemy fire on the edge of a small French townCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
An abandoned German 47mm PAK anti-tank gun blocked a narrow gap at Les Dunes de Madeleine
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An abandoned German 47mm PAK anti-tank gun blocked a narrow gap at Les Dunes de MadeleineCredit: Mediadrumimages / NARA
D-Day landings explained

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