The Normandy landing beaches take centre stage at the D-Day Festival

At 7.37am on 6 June 1944, around 25,000 British soldiers from the 50th Division landed on Gold Beach, at Arromanches-les-Bains. A few hours later, in the afternoon, the troops liberated the town. Construction then began on the artificial port of Mulberry. It served as a supply point for the allied troops on site. The remains of this port can still be seen on Gold Beach, just a few hundred metres from the shore. The first museum in France to be built to commemorate D-Day, the Musée du Débarquement d'Arromanches tells the story of these floating jetties, key to the Allied victory in the Battle of Normandy. Operational from 14 June 1944, the artificial port at Arromanches, commissioned by Winston Churchill, is the only one left in service after the destruction of its counterpart on Omaha Beach.

24 km from Gold Beach, at Colleville-sur-Mer, lies Omaha Beach, surely the most infamous of the Normandy landing beaches. The heavy losses in the American camp earned it the nickname " Bloody Omaha". Of the more than 30,000 soldiers present on the 8km battlefield that day, 3,000 lost their lives. This beach was immortalised in Steven Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan. A visit to Colleville-sur-Mer American Cemetery, overlooking Omaha Beach, is a must. It's a chance to say thank you to the 9,387 soldiers buried there. Granted in perpetuity by France to the United States, the cemetery covers 70 hectares.

Utah Beach is 5km long and is the most westerly of the Allied landing zones and the only beach in the Manche département, on the north-east coast of the Cotentin peninsula. It was one of the main assault areas during the Normandy landings. Around 32,000 American soldiers landed on this beach in June 1944, where the German troops were already much weakened after the particularly effective bombing raids. Not far away is Sainte-Mère-Église, the first village in France to be liberated, immortalised in Ken Annakin 's film ** *The Longest Day*** and the scene of the parachutist trapped at the top of the bell tower!

On 6 June 1944, no fewer than 7,000 ships landed on the 8km stretch of Juno Beach. It was the largest invasion fleet in military history. The Canadians then moved inland to link up Gold Beach and Sword Beach. On the evening of D-Day, the Canadian troops were the furthest inland. It was on this beach that Winston Churchill, General de Gaulle and King George VI landed a few days later. Inaugurated on 6 June 2003, the Juno Beach Centre, the only Canadian museum on the D-Day landing beaches, is located at Courseulles-sur-Mer.

Sword Beach is the easternmost point of the D-Day landings, 15 kilometres from Caen and its Memorial. It is the only one of the five D-Day beaches where French commandos landed, 177 to be exact, led by the famous Commandant Kieffer. It stretches 8km from Ouistreham to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. On 6 June 1944, British and French troops found themselves up against weakened German troops. By late afternoon, the beach was no longer in German hands. The next day, they joined forces with the Canadians who had landed on Juno Beach. Of the 30,000 men present on Sword Beach on 6 June 1944, 700 were killed.