German propaganda leaflets dropped over Allied front lines in Italy - February 1945
A family stands amid the ruined buildings in Nuremberg after the Allied bombings; Germany - 20 April 1945
Photo by Robert Capa
A Dornier Do-17 aircraft, believed to be the last existing craft of its kind, was raised from the bottom of the English Channel earlier today - 10 June 2013
The aircraft was a mainstay of the German bomber fleets during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The wreck is believed to be aircraft call-sign 5K-AR, shot down on 26 August that year at the height of the battle.
Two of the four crew members died and were buried elsewhere, and two - including the pilot - survived to become prisoners of war.
Canadian troops arrive on Juno Beach near Berniers-Sur-Mer; Normandy, France - 6 June 1944
Crossed rifles in the sand are a comrade’s tribute to this American soldier who sprang ashore from a landing barge and died at the barricades of Western Europe.
A US soldier, greeted by death upon his arrival at the shores of Normandy - 6 June 1944
On 6 June 1944, the Allied forces opened up a second front in Normandy to liberate France from the German occupation. 90,000 Allied troops landed on the Omaha Beach, codename for Coleville-Sur-Mer. Many were killed by German troops but the Allies managed to defeat the Germans, thus liberating France in the coming months.
Robert Capa, a war correspondent and photographer for LIFE magazine, landed with E Company of the 16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division on Easy Red Sector of Omaha Beach to photograph the landing. For 90 minutes during the first wave of landings, Capa used four rolls of 35mm film to take his 106 photos which he delivered to a darkroom assistant for development. Unfortunately, too much heat was used to dry the negatives, the emulsions melted and ran down. Only eleven photographs survived. Here are nine.
Photos by Robert Capa / Magnum Photos
An aerial view of Utah Beach on D-Day
Photo from the June 2002 issue of National Geographic
A B-26 Marauder of the 454th Bombardment Squadron, 323rd Bombardment Group of the US 9th Air Force drops its bombs on the Cherbourg Peninsula near Utah Beach on D-Day at 6:17am - 6 June 1944
US troops of the 1st Infantry Division leaving the port of Weymouth, England en route to Omaha Beach in Normandy - June 1944
Photo by Robert Capa
Paratroopers of the 508th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, adjust their parachutes prior to their jump behind enemy lines near Utah Beach - 5 June 1944
Allied troops in landing craft boarding ships on their way to the beach landings of Normandy on the eve of D-Day in the harbor of Weymouth, England - 5 June 1944
Photo by Robert Capa
An RAF Spitfire Mk. IX receives its D-Day invasion stripes; Tangmere, Sussex, England - 5 June 1944
On D-Day, Allied forces put 3,467 heavy bombers, 1,645 medium bombers and 5,409 fighters into the air. Not a single one was shot down by the Luftwaffe (or by the lack of German air power). 113 aircraft would be lost to flak batteries.
