With all the advances in photography available to us today, Photoshop experts challenge themselves by delving into old files and restoring black and white pictures that have yellowed on the edges; faces blurred.
This D-Day picture was merely part of a YouTube tutorial from David Galvan. Allied troops are seen wading, as they had during so many training maneuvers, on the beach of Normandy, France. The water has never looked so green on an original D-Day photograph, the soldier’s pans etched, the skies grey.
Before The Bloodbath
Based on the wide scale and importance of the Battle of Normandy, high casualty rates were to be expected on both sides. It wouldn’t be easy to cross channels without any place to hide against a well-prepared enemy shooting straight at you, and to land on the shores of Omaha Beach meant testing your luck running across a territory that was heavy-laden with landmines.
Determined to minimize war casualties as much as possible, military ambulances are here photographed streaming into the belly of Landing Ship Tanks. This was taken at Portland Harbour, Dorset before the D-Day landings in 1944. Despite the rules of war that allow medical vessels to pass unharmed, many medical ships were shot at, or destroyed, during battle.
Barrage Balloons On D-Day
Checking out these old photographs of the war can lead you to the rediscovery of many an unusual artefact. These retired and long-since forgotten tactical balloons are a great example of this phenomenon. What you’re looking at is a barrage balloon lined up in an unnamed base in Weymouth, Dorset, England on May 1st, 1944. It flies above the structure, attached to cables below.
Barrage balloons look like a small-sized zeppelin and were used by the Allied forces to deter low-flying aircraft sent to sneak in undetected and drop bombs. These balloons were threats to the aircraft, posing as collision risks.
IX Bomber Command
These are the same aircraft that bombed Saint-Lô to smithereens after the Allied forces took control of the shores of Normandy. Flying in formation, they look so proud and tactical; 100% strike-ready. These birds are B-26 Marauders with the 344th Bomb Group.
They are part of the United States Air Force. The 344th is nicknamed, “Silver Streaks,” and they led the IX Bomber Command formations on D-Day. Before the Normandy invasion, Caen, Saint-Lô, and the Falaise Gap, these bombers conducted raids over the skies of German-occupied Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.
Operation Overlord
The Battle of Normandy was codified as Operation Overlord, under the command of Gen. Eisenhower. It was a battle that would eventually turn the tide of the Second World War to the Allied forces, starting with its pivotal June 6th, 1944 operation.
This is a colorized photograph of Canadian forces that landed on the outskirts, near the town of Bernieres-sur-Mer, in Northwestern France. A total of 14,000 soldiers were deployed from Canada to contribute to the war effort. These men here belonged to the Saskatchewan Regiment of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. The group reportedly lost 340 troops on the beach that fateful day.