DDay.Center – Your Independent Guide to D-Day
The aim of our website is to offer an accessible, easy-to-follow guide to D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, whilst providing some useful advice and opinion to help people discover the battlefields and landing beaches of Normandy for themselves. We also want to try and highlight the many physical reminders of Operation Overlord – many of them now overlooked or their relevance forgotten.
D-Day.Center is also a great place to keep up-to-date with the annual D-Day Anniversary commemorations. We compile listings from numerous sources and believe we are able to provide the most comprehensive overview of forthcoming events being held not just in Normandy but those taking place in the UK, Canada, and the United States. Every year around five million people visit the D-Day sites. Through education, exploration and remembrance we want to help keep alive the story of Normandy Landings and of D-Day Veterans.
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, represented the largest amphibious military assault in history and the pivotal turning point of World War II in Europe. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel that day to storm five code-named beaches, beginning the arduous campaign that would ultimately breach Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, liberate France, and deliver the fatal blow to Nazi Germany’s western defenses.
WW2 Cemeteries in Normandy
The immaculately maintained war cemeteries of Normandy stand as solemn testimonies to the enormous human cost of liberation, where over 110,000 Allied and German soldiers lie in carefully tended grounds overlooking the landscapes they fought to claim. From the sweeping rows of white crosses at the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer to the stark stone markers of La Cambe German Cemetery, these hallowed grounds offer visitors profound spaces for reflection on the sacrifice of a generation and the terrible price of freedom.
WW2 Museums in Normandy
Normandy’s world-class WWII museums preserve the artifacts, stories, and memories of D-Day through powerful exhibits that range from imposing tanks and aircraft to deeply personal items carried by soldiers who stormed the beaches. The region boasts over two dozen specialized museums, including the comprehensive Memorial de Caen, the immersive Utah Beach Museum housed in a former German bunker, and the Airborne Museum at Sainte-Mère-Église, each offering unique perspectives on different aspects of the invasion that changed the course of history.
Normandy’s D-Day Historic Towns
The historic Norman towns that witnessed the D-Day landings and subsequent liberation battles now blend peaceful coastal charm with profound wartime heritage, their streets and buildings bearing both visible scars and commemorative markers of their pivotal role in history. From Sainte-Mère-Église, where paratrooper John Steele famously dangled from the church steeple, to Bayeux, the first major town liberated by Allied forces, these communities maintain a deep connection to their wartime past while serving as living memorials to the soldiers who fought house-by-house to free them from occupation.
Normandy Today
Normandy today balances its profound World War II heritage with the timeless charm of its rolling countryside, half-timbered architecture, and world-renowned culinary traditions centered around apples, dairy, and seafood. Visitors discover a region that has gracefully integrated its solemn historical sites into a landscape of picturesque fishing ports, medieval towns like Bayeux with its famous tapestry, beautiful accommodations, and dramatic coastlines punctuated by landmarks like Mont Saint-Michel, creating an experience that honors the past while celebrating Normandy’s enduring cultural richness.
As you explore our website dedicated to the D-Day landings and Battle of Normandy, we hope you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for this pivotal chapter in world history and the extraordinary individuals who participated in it. Whether you’re planning your own journey to the beaches where history was made, researching a family connection to these events, or simply seeking to understand the scale and significance of Operation Overlord, we thank you for taking the time to remember and honor the sacrifices that secured our freedom. The beaches of Normandy may now be peaceful, but they forever hold the footprints of heroes—and in preserving their stories, we ensure that the courage displayed on those shores will never be forgotten.
