The Normand Invasion, Western Allies’ largest amphibious invasion in the history of the World War II. The northern coast of France was assaulted on 6th June 1944, also known as the ‘D-Day’. The battle was savage, which lasted throughout the summer of 1944, as Allied troops fought and eventually succeeded to liberate all of the northern France.
Sadly, the pictorial record of this historical battle has been rather obscure and hidden until the initiative of a Flickr account known as PhotosNormandie, which has decided to make information about the invasion more accessible. The account is asking people around the world to submit images of the iconic battle and has already received over 4,300 archival images from D-Day to August 1944.
All the pictures are collected at one place, with the most impressive and historic one being Into the Jaws of Death captured by Robert F. Sargent, a United States Coast Guard chief petty officer. The picture shows troops mingling with the locals during war in the areas of Normandy, and is a stark reminder of the rigors of the war, while giving a feel of magnitude of the operation.
PhotosNormandie online resource takes images from both the Canadian and US National Archives, along with pictures from institutions, like the library of Cherbourg-Octeville.
The project was started on the 60th anniversary of D-Day by emulating a defunct Archives Normandie, 1939-1945 by using crowd-sourcing of the images as well as their descriptions. Users are asked to comment on the photos if they have something to add in the descriptions, locations, and the events shown in the pictures.
All in all, going through the collection takes a person on a full ride of this shocking, harrowing, and sometimes touching pictures of this complex time in world history.
All images via PhotosNormandie.
