D-Day Map

Top--Amphibious operations--here are the first key spots on the Normandy coast of France where Allied invasion forces came ashore by boat to set up their beachheads and bridgeheads. St. Vaast, near the tip of the Cherbourg peninsula was among the first landing places, so was Arromanches, from which the invaders spread out along the beach and moved inland taking Bayeux. Around Trouville and the mouth of the River Seine, south of Havre, as well as near Isigny, were other well chosen sites on a beach now reported completely cleared. Bottom--Airborne operations--after coastal landing at St. Vaast, airborne troops dropped by the hundreds and thousands. Carentan and Valognes, centering the Cherbourg peninsula, were among the first visited by the invaders from the skies. On both sides of the Seine, near Havre, at Harfleur and Honfleur, paratroopers were dropped. Areas near Caen and Rouen were considered among the most strategic points. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)