Scenes From D-Day, Then and Now
Just a few days late...
Tomorrow, June 6, 2014, will be the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Allied invasion of Europe in World War II. Seven decades ago, the largest amphibious invasion in history took place, changing the course of the war. Nearly 200,000 Allied troops boarded 7,000 ships and more than 3,000 aircraft and headed toward Normandy. Some 156,000 troops landed on the French beaches, 24,000 by air and the rest by sea, where they met stiff resistance from well-defended German positions across 50 miles of French coastline. Two photographers recently traveled to France, seeking to rephotograph images captured back then. Getty photographer Peter Macdiarmid and Reuters photographer Chris Helgren gathered archive pictures from the 1944 invasion, tracked down the locations, and photographed them as they appear today. Starting with photo number two, all the images are interactive -- click on them to see a transition from 'then' to 'now', and see the difference 70 years can make. [21 photo pairs]
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/06/scenes-from-d-day-then-and-now/100752/
A composite image of the seafront of Weymouth, England -- in June of 1944 (left) and 70 years later, on April 5, 2014. In 1944, US troops on the Esplanade were on their way to embark on ships bound for Omaha Beach for the D-Day landings in Normandy. The Allied invasion to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II took place on June 6, 1944. (Galerie Bilderwelt, 1944/Peter Macdiarmid, 2014/Getty Images)