In the early morning of the 6th June 1944 (D-Day) the greatest seaborne invasion in history took place on the beaches of Normandy in Northern France. Operation Overlord saw more than 150,000 US, British and Commonwealth soldiers cross the English Channel to establish five beachheads. The code names for these were Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. By nightfall the beachheads were secure and the liberation of western Europe had begun.