American troops storm the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.
Published 5:53 PM EDT, Wed June 5, 2024
It was just after dawn on June 6, 1944.
Robert F. Sargent, a chief photographer's mate in the US Coast Guard, was aboard one of the many Higgins boats heading toward the shores of Normandy, France, at the start of the D-Day invasion. With him were soldiers from the US Army's 1st Infantry Division, cold and soaked from the choppy waters.
"Smoke hung over everything," Sargent later told Coast Guard Combat Correspondent Thomas Winship, "and as the coxswain opened his throttle to drive into the beach we saw the enemy-placed obstacles, a tangled mess of timbers, barbed wire and hidden mines."
From afar, the beach ahead of Sargent's boat looked lifeless and deserted. Then he glanced over at another nearby boat and saw the water between them being pelted by German bullets "like a mud-puddle in a hailstorm. It seemed impossible that we would make it without being riddled."
When the boats reached sandbars, their bow doors dropped and their ramps went down, releasing the soldiers into shallow water that they would have to wade through while being fired at by German machine guns. Many would not make it to shore.
This is the scene that Sargent captured with his famous photo "Into the Jaws of Death." It is one of the most widely reproduced photos from the Normandy landings, which laid the foundation for the Allied defeat of Germany in World War II.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion in history. There were many Allied casualties that day — around 4,440 Allied troops were confirmed dead, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with more than 5,800 troops wounded or missing. But by midnight, the Allies had secured their beachheads and moved further inland.
Sargent stayed on the boat, which returned to the USS Samuel Chase to bring more waves of troops to the shore. He carried his film in a metal milk can to keep it safe.
"The coast of France this morning was certainly no photographer's party," he told Winship. Sargent died in 2012.
The British Army's 50th Infantry Division lands on beaches in Normandy. Allied troops landed on five stretches of the Normandy coastline that were code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
US servicemen in New York read news about the D-Day invasion. The operation was led by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would later become president of the United States.
Commandos with the British Royal Navy advance on the beach. Planning for D-Day began more than a year in advance, and the Allies carried out substantial military deception to confuse the Germans as to when and where the invasion would take place.
US Coast Guard boats are seen off Omaha Beach on the morning of D-Day. Troops left the USS Samuel Chase early that day to head to Normandy. "When the order 'Lower Away' came, everything was quiet," Sargent recalled. "Just the squeaking of the davits and the whispered comments of the men were heard. The soldiers were silent."
Medics start an IV as they assist a wounded soldier on shore. Heavy fire from German positions caused many casualties.
A squadron of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, under the command of US Air Force Lt. Col. Clarence Shoop, fly across the English countryside on their way to France on D-Day.
Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces, gives the order of the day to paratroopers in England. "Full victory — nothing else" was the command just before they boarded their planes to participate in the first wave.
Reinforcements disembark from boats at Normandy.
US paratroopers fix their static lines before a jump over Normandy. The Allied invasion — codenamed Operation Overlord — was coordinated across air, land and sea.
Landing craft and a fleet of protection vessels approach Omaha Beach. By midnight, the troops had secured their beachheads and moved further inland.
British troops reach the shore in the early morning. According to the Royal British Legion, the phrase D-Day was used fairly often before the Normandy landings. After them, however, the two became synonymous, and now D-Day is commonly understood to refer to the beginning of Operation Overlord.
British troops use radios during the move inland.
French soldiers are transported on the Normandy beaches. Most troops on D-Day were American, British and Canadian, according to the Imperial War Museums, but troops also came from Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Poland.
A B-26 from the US Air Force flies over one of the beaches during the invasion.
These US soldiers reached Omaha Beach aboard a life raft.
British tanks are seen on an American landing barge crossing the English Channel.
US troops huddle behind the protective front of their landing craft as it nears a beachhead in France. Smoke in the background is naval gunfire giving cover to troops on land. Germans rained mortars and artillery down on Allied troops, killing many before they could even get out of their boats. Fighting was especially fierce at Omaha Beach, where Nazi fighters nearly wiped out the first wave of invading forces and left the survivors struggling for cover.
Injured American soldiers wait to be moved to a field hospital after storming Omaha Beach.
US troops wait to disembark a landing craft on D-Day. The Allies went to elaborate lengths to maintain secrecy and mislead Adolf Hitler. They employed double agents and used decoy tanks and phony bases in England to hide actual troop movements.
American troops help their injured comrades after their landing craft was fired upon.
The crew on the British frigate HMS Holmes keep watch as gliders pass overhead with reinforcements from the 6th Airborne Division.
Bodies of American soldiers lie on the ground in Normandy as graves are dug.
British troops escort German prisoners in Normandy.
A makeshift monument pays tribute to a fallen American soldier at Normandy.
