D-Day - as it happened 80 years ago (2024)

Summary

This special D-Day live page focuses on how D-Day unfolded, as if it were a modern-day breaking news story
It includes accounts from people across the south who were there, their surviving family members and historians
Thursday 6 June is exactly 80 years since the Allied troops landed on the beaches on Normandy in the first stage of reclaiming Europe from the Nazis
The weather was crucial to the 6 June Normandy landings
See where the troops landed across the northern coast of France
The capture of Pegasus Bridge was an early development
Over 13,000 US paratroopers landed in France
Troops from Berkshire were successful in destroying some of the German defences
Mulberry Harbours were giant artificial harbours used by the Allies for landing troops
See some colourised photos from D-Day itself

Live Reporting

Sue Paz, Jo Kent, Emily Ford, Stephen Stafford, Dan Kerins

German defences destroyed on Juno beachpublished at 10:43
10:43
Soldiers from the 5th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment have successfully destroyed German defences on the beach codenamed Juno beach.
They followed Canadian troops onto the beach to secure it for further landings of troops and supplies.
After coming up against fire from German pillboxes on the shore, they have successfully fought back against the enemy.
One of their officers is Reading man Major Basil Tarrant, his son Chris Tarrant is speaking today.
Secret agents monitor radio broadcasts from Hurleypublished at 10:24
10:24
In the small Berkshire village of Hurley, a team of more than 100 American secret agents are monitoring radio broadcasts from a network of operatives in occupied France.
The team, based at the top secret communications centre - codenamed Station Victor, has the job of deciphering coded messages from spies behind enemy lines.
News that the invasion has happened has added to the sense of urgency of their mission.
Local historian Phil Mullins uncovers the story of Station Victor...
Quote Message
On 6 June all they were worried about was doing the job properly. Every time an agent in occupied France used a radio to send a message, that agent was likely to have been targeted by the German authorities trying to detect his radio signal. And they knew that the agents had to get that message across very quickly and get off the air so they could move location, if possible, to avoid detection. So they knew their job was very serious, it was a matter of life and death.
Phil Mullins, Historian
Vital air spotting operation launches across Solentpublished at 10:19
10:19
The skies above the Solent are very busy as a vital air spotting operation in support of the invasion of Normandy swings into action.
HMS Daedalus airfield at Lee-on-Solent is the base for this. Working in pairs, 159 aircraft are involved in the mission.
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The job of the pilots is to pinpoint German defences from the air to improve the accuracy of the naval bombardment from the ships located off the beaches.
Dr Seb Ritchie is from the RAF’s Air Historical Branch.
Halifax bomber launched from Dorsetpublished at 10:08
10:08
The Halifax bomber aircraft which towed those first six gliders into France took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset.
That was followed by further sorties from the airfield in the early hours of this morning. All of the aircraft have landed safely back at base.
The air crews have been given debriefing sessions and are trying to rest ahead of their next operation later today.
Bob Seymour’s father, Robert, is one of the navigators on the bombers – known as tugs.
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He wrote a memoir about 40 years later. He speaks at one stage of the sheer joy at what they'd achieved that night. Landing back here, being debriefed and then heading up to their quarters up in the woods, singing at the tops of their rural voice 'Rule Britannia' and an immense sense of pride I guess at being part of something that was a day of history being made.
Bob Seymour, Robert Seymour's son
First soldier killed in battle namedpublished at 09:57
09:57
Details are emerging about the first person to be killed in action on D-Day.
Lt Den Brotheridge of the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was killed during the capture of the bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne.
After landing in gliders and storming the bridges shortly after midnight, Lt Brotheridge was hit by German machine gun fire.
Margaret Brotheridge is his daughter.
D-Day in Numberspublished at 09:41
09:41
Beach group deployed to defend from German counterattackspublished at 09:27
09:27
Soldiers from the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry are among troops who’ve landed on the beach code named Sword.
The first men disembarked an hour ago.
They are with the 6th Beach Group, responsible for defending the beach from German counter-attacks and securing it for reinforcements to arrive.
Thousands of American troops set off from Portland overnightpublished at 09:17
09:17
American troops who have been stationed for some months in Dorset are also involved in the landings - 34,000 soldiers left from Weymouth and Portland overnight, headed for the beach codenamed Omaha.
They landed there two hours ago but things are not going to plan, with some landing craft arriving in the wrong positions.
Derek Luckhurst, founder of the Castletown D-Day Centre in Portland, said: "It all went wrong initially."
He told BBC South's Jo Kent the weather and strong current of the sea meant very few troops were where they should have been.
He explained: "By the time they actually hit the beach, they were already wet, cold, sick and the tanks, they all sank in the high waves.
"So there was no armoured support, there were no impact craters to hide in and all of the defences were completely intact.
"So as the doors of the Higgins boats oepned, they were just mown down by the German machine guns."
D-Day in Numberspublished at 09:07
09:07
Seaborne invasion of 7,000 vessels planned at Portsmouth naval HQpublished at 09:06
09:06
The seaborne invasion is the largest in history, comprising more than 7,000 vessels and the delivery today of more than 160,000 troops to the five Normandy beaches.
It’s been planned by Adm Sir Bertram Ramsay at the naval headquarters at Southwick House, near Portsmouth.
The majority of the ships gathered at the south-east point of the Isle of Wight ahead of the crossing, at a point nicknamed Piccadilly Circus.
Soldiers from 5th Battalion land ahead of Canadian assaultpublished at 08:54
08:54
In the last half hour, soldiers from the 5th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment have landed in Normandy as part of the allied invasion force.
They are following the Canadian assault on the beach, codenamed Juno, at Bernieres sur Mer.
Operating as a beach group, they are tasked with destroying remaining German defences and securing the beach so supplies and reinforcements can be landed.
One of their officers is Reading man, Maj Basil Tarrant.
His son, TV and radio presenter Chris Tarrant, reads his father’s description of the landings...
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We slept a bit, but then sometime before 04:00 we were woken by the ship's crew, with toast, great mugs of tea and hardtack biscuits... I then looked out, the light was just coming up and it was truly awesome in the fullest meaning of the word. I have never, ever seen so many ships - nor ever, ever will again. People all around me were throwing up, but surprisingly I wasn't sick at all. Not even really frightened... I was just apprehensive.
Chris Tarrant, Maj Basil Tarrant's son
American troops involved in airborne operation from Berkshirepublished at 08:45
08:45
American troops, who have been stationed in Berkshire for the past seven months, have also been involved in the airborne operation.
Soldiers from the 502nd Parachute Infantry Battalion were among 13,000 US paratroopers dropped into France overnight.
Some left on a series of flights from the Berkshire airbases of Greenham Common, Membury and Aldermaston.
They were watched as they flew from Greenham by General Eisenhower.
This morning, the base is preparing to send reinforcements.
D-Day in Numberspublished at 08:34
08:34
Horsa gliders used in assault for Normandy landingpublished at 08:28
08:28
The six Horsa gliders used in that assault carried a total of 181 men.
They took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset, landing in France shortly after midnight.
Crews from the Dorset base were then involved in Operation Tonga, dropping paratroopers and airborne troops in gliders near to the city of Caen.
The gliders were towed by Halifax bombers, known as tugs, and the planes have safely returned to base but there were some issues with the gliders.
Battalion capture two bridges in overnight missionpublished at 08:23
08:23
Meanwhile, 10 miles inland in Normandy, former Oxford policeman Maj John Howard and his men from the 2nd battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry have been successful in capturing two bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne.
In a daring and skillful overnight mission, they landed in gliders very close to their targets and had captured the bridges within 10 minutes.
The men are currently defending the bridges and waiting for reinforcements.
In pictures: Landing on the Normandy beachespublished at 08:17
08:17
Troops from the UK, the US, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of northern France, on 6 June 1944.
D-Day was the largest military naval, air and land operation ever attempted, and marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe.
From 06:30, the first five assault divisions were delivered to their beaches under cover of a naval bombardment.
Image source, IWM/Getty Images
Image source, EPA
Image source, IWM/Getty Images
Vehicles sink due to rough weather approaching beachpublished at 08:02
08:02
Susannah Jarvis is the curator of the Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum.
Looking at records of the Normandy landings, she told the BBC troops ended up landing "slightly off" from where they should have been.
She said the rough weather meant only two out of 16 vehicles with the 1st Hampshire Battalion made it to the beach, as the others sank.
Map shows strategic arrival of troops along Normandy beachfrontpublished at 07:50
07:50
Airborne troops were dropped behind enemy lines in the early hours, while thousands of ships gathered off the Normandy coast for the main attack.
Though they were expecting an invasion, German military leaders believed the initial attacks were only a diversionary tactic.
British forces land on beaches in Normandypublished at 07:40
07:40
In the last five minutes, British forces have landed on beaches in Normandy in France, as part of an allied invasion to liberate occupied Europe.
Among the troops are about 1,000 soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment.
They have landed on a beach codenamed Gold, with the objective of capturing the town of Arromanches.
Image source, Getty Images
Welcome to D-Day, as it happenedpublished at 07:34
07:34
Emily Ford
BBC South
Hello and welcome to our coverage of D-Day, as it happened.
Today we will focus on the hours leading up to D-Day and the day itself, as if it were a modern-day breaking news story.
You'll see and hear accounts from people across the south who were there, their surviving family members and historians.