D-Day: remarkable pictures from the Normandy invasion

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World leaders have joined hundreds of veterans in Normandy to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The commemoration events began with a lone piper playing at 7.26am, the moment the first British soldiers came ashore on 6 June 1944.

Prime Minister Theresa May said “thank you” to the veterans, while French President Emmanuel Macron said we owe them “our freedom”.

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US President Donald Trump attended a service at the US war cemetery at Omaha Beach, where he said American troops “came here and saved freedom, and then they went home and showed us all what freedom is all about”.

Seventy-five years ago, nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen took the largest-ever seaborne invasion in history.

The first phase of the operation began shortly after midnight, as thousands of US and UK paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines, tasked with capturing strategic points and slowing the German retreat.

Finally, at 6.30am, around 60,000 US troops assaulted two beaches along the coast of Normandy, codenamed Utah and Omaha,

An hour later, UK and Canadian forces stormed three other beaches, codenamed Juno, Gold and Sword.

The D-Day landings opened the way into Nazi-occupied France, launching a campaign which would ultimately bring about the surrender of Germany in May 1945.

However, victory came at a steep cost. Despite efforts to weaken German defences with naval and aerial bombardment in the hours before the landing, Allied soldiers faced stiff resistance in the form of mines, artillery and machine-gun nests.

At least 4,000 Allied troops were killed on D-Day, and thousands more wounded. Casualties were heaviest on Omaha Beach, where rough seas and unexpectedly strong German defences left US soldiers trapped under enemy fire.

However, all five beaches were successfully taken: the campaign to liberate Europe from Nazi rule was afoot.

Here are some of the most unforgettable images from that day in the gallery above.