In pictures: D-Day's landscape in 1944 and today

SUMMARY

Warships, bombers, rubble, refugees. That was the Normandy landscape of 1944, as Allied forces fought to wrest France from Nazi control. Today, the region's towns and beaches are startlingly calm, as still-grateful residents prepare to welcome veterans commemorating 75 years since D-Day.

By APMay 30, 2019 4:12:36 PM IST (Published)

This combination of photos shows a British soldier walking in the streets of captured Argentan, in Normandy, France on September 11, 1944, top, and below, a view of the same location on May 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

This combination of photos shows inhabitants of La Haye Du Puits in Normandy, France, on July 14, 1944, returning to their home town, top, and below, a view of the same location on May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

This combination of photos shows an American soldier and a French civilian speaking on the causeway leading from the mainland of Brittany to the famous tourist resort of Mont-St-Michel in Normandy on August 8, 1944, top, and below, a view of the same location on May 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

This combination of photos shows the flag-covered body of an officer identified only as "Major Aowie" resting amid the ruins of St. Croix Church as two of his men man a machine gun in a bomb crater in the foreground, in St. Lo, France, July 23, 1944, top, and below, a view of the same location on May 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Harry Harris, Thibault Camus)

This combination of photos shows ruins in the town of Valognes on October 7, 1944, top, and below, a view of the same location 75 years later on May 9, 2019. (Bert Brandt/ACME Pool via AP/Thibault Camus)

This combination of photos shows US troops passing through the town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont as they push forward in France, June 1944, top, and below, a view of the same location on May 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Peter J Carroll, Thibault Camus)