Live coverage as commemorations take place to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy
Read a report of Obama's speech at the US war cemetery
Read a report from the Bayeux service attended by the Queen
D-day 1944-2014: a standard for our times
Read a lunchtime summary
2.10pm BST
French president Francois Hollande is arriving at the international ceremony at Ouistreham now, along with French prime minister Manuel Valls.
The French president is hosting this commemoration; he will be followed by other world leaders.
2.04pm BST
The New York Times reported the launch of the invasion on its front page of 6 June 1944:
General Eisenhower told his forces that they were about to embark on a 'great crusade'.
The eyes of the world are upon you, he said, and the 'hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you'. The order, which reflected a full appreciation of the mighty task ahead and yet reflected the calm, sober confidence that permeates these headquarters, was distributed to assault elements after their embarkation.
The news that has been so long and so eagerly awaited broke as war-weary Londoners were going to work. Hardly any of them knew what was happening, for there had been no disclosure of the news that the invasion had started in the British Broadcasting Corporation's 7 o'clock broadcast.
1.54pm BST
The international ceremony at Ouistreham Sword beach in the Normandy landings begins shortly.
Arriving as reinforcements on D+4 meant that we did not encounter the dangers and horrors experienced by those who led the assault on D-day. Whatever dangers we might have encountered later and in my case, they were not great the only discomfort we suffered as we left the landing craft to reach the beach was to struggle in water up to our chests as we held our rifles above our heads to keep them dry.
By that time, the beach head was secure and we were able to march inland, near to the port of Ouistreham, until we found a spot where we could rest. Soaked to the skin, with the sun shining, we all decided it would be a good idea to strip to our underwear to dry off.
1.50pm BST
The Manchester Guardian reported on 7 June 1944 that the weather had delayed plans for the invasion. Reporting from the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force, our military correspondent reported:
It can now be said that the operation which has been carried out today was originally planned for yesterday.
It was postponed on account of the weather.
It can be said that in some ways the German defences so far have not in fact proved quite so formidable as the planners of the expedition had predicted.
The Allied naval and air forces have been magnificent.
1.41pm BST
My colleague Kim Willsher is at Sword beach and has been talking to some of the veterans there ahead of this afternoon's international ceremony.
Thomas "Ted" Bootle, 90, from Oulton Broad, Suffolk, UK, landed with 398 company of the Royal Army Service Corps, attached to the 6th Arborne Division:
I came ashore in a five-ton army lorry. We sailed from Tilbury on a US ship and was transferred to a landing craft mid-Channel. The US crew dropped one of the other lorries and the driver was killed. They had to clear that out of the way before we could be transferred. I was directed to the wrong part of the beach and was told to drive at top speed to the right part and shoot anything that moved.
I had lied to get into the Navy and was just 18 on D-day. We made quite a few trips back and forth. I remember clearly what happened. We didn't come under so much fire because the troops got quickly inland, but there was the occasional plane dropping bombs on us. One lifted the stern of the ship out of the water.
I always feel very proud coming back here, and proud to have been part of the D-day landings. I feel humble as well because of all the French civilians that died. It was when we started taking the wounded back that it hit me. It was just like you see in the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, only louder and longer. When we got to land, there were still bodies on the beach.
By the end of the war there were only eight of us left. The others were either dead or wounded. I was wounded in the leg, later in August. I don't think young people want to remember what happened all those years ago. I don't think they're interested. It's wonderful to be here. Everyone is so proud of us, they treat us like gods. And after all, it's important to remember.
We drove the lorry through the water and headed north to Belgium. I remember clearly parking by the side of the road and a German shell hitting a first aid post in the middle of the road killing four people. It is an emotional time. I come back for the fellas that got killed. I was lucky, I got away with it.
We were supposed to be in Caen in three days; in fact we weren't there until July 15. Those Germans were tough fighters. We were against the 12th Panzer division, who were Hitler Youth boys and trained to be ferocious fighters. You couldn't make them give up.
I volunteered to go. We though Hitler was going to take the world and he was going to take England. We were loyal to England, we wanted a free world, and men are men. Everybody went. I never thought about being scared. I thought if anyone was going to die, it wouldn't be me. I lost one of my ears, and my officer was killed, but I made it.
1.34pm BST
This is wonderful: news of D-day reaches New York in pictures.
1.22pm BST
As my colleague Jason Deans reports, despite the restrictions on the media at the time (both in terms of speed and censorship), the BBC was able to offer "eye-witness reports" just hours after the landings began:
The BBC broadcast its first 'eye-witness report from above the battlefield of France' during its 1pm radio news, a recording sent back by an Air-Commodore Helmore from a plane that had returned from its mission that morning to bomb a railway bridge.
Helmore reported during the flight across the English Channel that it was busier 'up here than Piccadilly Circus' with the air 'full of aircraft of all kinds going and coming', while down below 'I've just seen a great flock of our invasion fleet'.
1.12pm: Correspondents reports on the preparations for the invasion followed the news bulletin #DDay70 pic.twitter.com/p9dFQZtldt
1.05pm BST
As veterans and world leaders sit down to lunch in Normandy ahead of this afternoon's events, a recap:
Hundreds of veterans have gathered in Normandy to commemorate the D-day landings of 6 June 1944. Peter Smoothy, 89, said: 'Coming here, to this place, it always affects me straight away. My mind is always on those that never came home.'
If prayers were made of sounds, the noise over England that night would have deafened the world.
Blood soaked the water. Bombs broke the sky. Hell's beach earned its name.
They were your parents, your brothers, your friends.
They were our liberators.
This immense and heroic endeavour brought the end of the second world war within reach.
I am sure that these commemorations will provide veterans of the conflict and their families gathered here in France, along with their hosts, the people of Normandy, with an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and the incredible sacrifices that were made.
12.45pm BST
My colleague Caroline Davies sends this report from commemorations in Bayeux:
This was it, the final time. No more would Britain's Normandy veterans walk in their hundreds through its white serried rows of headstones. Never again would they encircle en masse the Cross of Sacrifice, their standards dipped in respect.
Bayeux war cemetery, a British shine and last resting place for 3,935 whom age would never weary, provided a fitting backdrop to this emotive swan song.
12.37pm BST
The world leaders at the Chateau de Benouville are posing for their group photograph; I've grabbed this from the BBC, but we should have the official version shortly:
12.33pm BST
Reader Julie Ramsay has sent us her grandfather's diary from D-day via Guardian Witness:
Today is the day. We had a meal at 2300 and I gave my men their final briefing at midnight.
0515. Day is breaking. The wind seems to be very strong for a landing.
My Grandad's D-Day Diary
Sent via GuardianWitness
By Julie Ramsay
6 June 2014, 10:55
12.29pm BST
Barack Obama has now arrived at the Chateau de Benouville for lunch with the other heads of state: Merkel, Putin and the Queen among them. He's brought a US veteran with him, which should help ensure that everyone is on their best behaviour.
Most of the British veterans are having their lunch in Bayeux, before they head to Ouistreham for this afternoon's ceremonies.
12.26pm BST
Northern Ireland's first minister Peter Robinson is in Normandy today, attending services in Bayeux cathedral, Bayeux cemetery and Sword Beach. He said of the men and women from Northern Ireland who played their part in the D-day landings:
We must never forget the bravery, courage and sacrifice of those thousands of soldiers who fought and for the many who ultimately gave their lives for all of us. It is right that those veterans are central to today's commemorations.
Northern Ireland provided a staging platform for allied forces prior to the D-day landings.
12.16pm BST
People have taken to Twitter to commemorate relatives involved in the D-day landings. Do share your memories of relatives in the comments or via GuardianWitness:
Thank you Charles Burdett. My grandad and D-Day vet. #DDay #DDay70 pic.twitter.com/IKi1cOR3Nn
My dad, 20, (centre) with his comrades on the eve of D-Day. He was wounded on Gold Beach in the first wave. #DDay70 pic.twitter.com/IvZc6i6wVd
Seventy years ago today my dad was part of the D-Day landings. He never spoke of that time, but he was still my hero. RIP Papa #DDay70
Thinking of all involved in D-Day 70 years ago today including my dad, who was aged just 19.
Linda's dad, George Williams,was on Sword beach 70 years ago today. We are very proud.
Linda's dad, D-Day veteran George Williams, in 1994. pic.twitter.com/ytWc6ytvOK
At approx 7.45am,70yrs ago D-Day,my dad & many other young men landed on gold beach,Arromanches.Thnx for the freedom Dad! #Essex Regiment
Wonder how dad/others of #Essex regiment felt 70 yrs ago.Did they realise enormity of what laid ahead next morning? pic.twitter.com/u1xXzVPbGP
D-Day-Never forget! 3 generations of Lakemans on Juno beach, Normandy. Centre is our D-Day hero grandad, Ken.#D-Day70 pic.twitter.com/CBKWG18Nbb
12.11pm BST
Russia's president Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Chateau de Benouville in Normandy for lunch with other leaders ahead of the ceremony at Sword beach.
My colleague Kim Willsher reports from Normandy:
Putin has just arrived at the Chateau de Bénouville for lunch with the other heads of state.
He was greeted on the red carpet by François Hollande who shook his hand, but it was not a warm welcome. Hollande has a habit of putting his hand on someone's back to guide them, and he didn't with Putin.
12.06pm BST
In this video, US president Barack Obama and French president François Hollande commemorate the dead and honour the living at the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, on Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings in the second world war.
12.00pm BST
At noon on 6 June 1944, British prime minister Winston Churchill announced to MPs that D-day had begun. But he took his time about it:
12.00hrs
London
Winston Churchill interrupts House of Commons business, and speaks for 15 minutes about the capture of Rome, the first Axis capital to fall to the Allies two days earlier, before announcing the invasion.
11.55am BST
The news of the Normandy landings was first relayed to the British public by the BBC in a special midday bulletin, read by John Snagge:
"D-day has come. Early this morning the Allies began the assault on the north-western face of Hitler's European fortress.
11.54am BST
A pair of Spitfires, painted in the black and white stripes of D-day aircraft, are taking part in a flypast over the Normandy beaches. Some 12,000 aircraft were in operation on D-day.
11.44am BST
World leaders in Normandy are now meeting at the Chateau de Benouville, near Caen, for lunch, before this afternoon's centrepiece ceremony at Sword beach. German chancellor Angela Merkel has just arrived and was greeted by French president Francois Hollande.
11.38am BST
A D-day fact: Queen Elizabeth is the only one of the heads of state in Normandy today to have served during the second world war. She was a member of the auxiliary territorial service, the women's branch of the British army, in which she was a junior commander.
11.31am BST
The Manchester Guardian (that was us, then) reported that:
Manchester received the long-awaited news with tempered elation. There was no boisterous display.
Everywhere there was a 'standing to' at wireless receivers such as had no parallel since the first hours of the war or the anxious days of 1940.
11.26am BST
Veteran Edgar 'Ron' Minton remembers the invasion as he revisits the site 70 years on:
11.14am BST
And Associated Press has this report on the speech by Barack Obama at the US cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer:
Seventy years after Allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy, President Barack Obama returned Friday to this hallowed battleground and said "the tide was turned in that common struggle for freedom" on D-Day and now lives on in a new generation.
'America's claim, our commitment to liberty, to equality, to freedom, to the inherent dignity of every human being that claim is written in blood on these beaches, and it will endure for eternity,' Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery on a morning that dawned glorious and bright over the sacred site he called 'democracy's beachhead'.
We come to remember why America and our allies gave so much for the survival of liberty at its moment of maximum peril. And we come to tell the story of the men and women who did it, so that it remains seared into the memory of the future world.'
The president mentioned that his grandfather served in Patton's Army and his grandmother was among the many women who went to work supporting the war effort back home, in her case on a B-29 bomber assembly line.
Obama also singled out from the audience Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, an Army Ranger who served 10 deployments and was severely wounded by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Obama recognized Remsburg at the emotional high-point of his State of the Union address earlier this year, after first meeting him five years ago at the Normandy commemoration. The two reunited Friday as Obama met with veterans at Omaha Beach before his speech.
11.05am BST
The Press Association has filed this report on the events of this morning:
British veterans of the D-day landings honoured their fallen comrades during a poignant service of remembrance in Normandy attended by the Queen. Surrounded by war graves, old soldiers, sailors and airmen gathered with senior members of the royal family and prime minister David Cameron in the town of Bayeux to pay their respects.
The event marked 70 years to the day that Allied troops stormed Normandy beaches in the largest amphibious assault in history, described by wartime prime minister Winston Churchill as 'undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place'.
Here in this cemetery we are reminded of the true cost of D-day whose 70th anniversary we mark today. We pay tribute to the dead and welcome enthusiastically the veterans for whose courage and devotion we are most grateful.
This is a British cemetery and most of the graves in this place are British but D-day involved many nations and many nations are represented here.
Here in this cemetery men from many nations lie together united in death, and together, united in gratitude, sorrow and respect, we honour their memory. May they rest in peace.
10.59am BST
At this time on 6 June 1944, Hitler was just waking up:
11.00hrs
Berchtesgaden, southern Germany
Hitler wakes up. Staff at his mountain retreat had refused to rouse him when first reports of paratroop landings and a potential invasion came in through the night. When he finally does get up, he disregards the reports of an Allied invasion in Normandy.
10.56am BST
About 100 Canadian veterans are in Normandy today, to commemorate Canada's role in the landings. Canadian troops landed on Juno beach on 6 June 1944; about 350 of them died that day.
Reader George Sanders sent us this story of his father's role at Juno:
My father was a captain of an LCT boat on Juno beach in the first wave, taking "Hobart's funnies" onto the beach at Courseulles sur Mer, together with Canadian Commandos. He was not in the navy, but was a Royal Engineer Warrant Officer first class (WO1). I understand that 24 boats were in the first wave and only 4 made it. I have a picture in a book of photos showing him on the beach next to the ramp he and his crew had placed onto the promenade to enable the tanks of various kinds to climb onto the streets. In civilian life he was a Thames waterman, a tug captain, who had volunteered for the army as he was in a reserved occupation and did not have to serve. He survived and later took barges full of food up Dutch canals and the Rhine to Remagen to help the invasion further. He did not say much about the landing, stating that the sea was boiling, perhaps with German fire, and he and his comrades came in an hour later than most because of the tides in that area.
Sent via GuardianWitness
By georgesanders
4 June 2014, 18:43
10.48am BST
In Bayeux, the Queen is talking to veterans and those who care for the cemetery, including the head gardeners. The gardeners ensure that at any time of the year, there are always flowers blooming.
10.43am BST
Barack Obama has just ended his (very powerful) speech and there is a moment's silence at the US cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, before he and President Hollande lay wreaths for the fallen, followed by a 21-gun salute.
10.36am BST
Many personal stories have been submitted by our readers through Guardian Witness. If you have photographs or stories, you can share them on our Guardian Witness D-day assignment here.
Here is a selection of those we've been sent so far:
My dear departed Dad was a Squadron Leader, DFC , in the RCAF, No. 411 Squadron, in 1944. He flew Spitfires, which he absolutely loved. He flew over Juno Beach on D Day with his little black Scottie, Gael, with him in the plane as a good luck mascot. (She was apparently fearless and used to ride on the back of my Dads motorcycle.) Dad survived the war unscathed and married a lovely English girl. They came back to Canada in 1945 and lived happily ever after.
Sent via GuardianWitness
By dmcecan
5 June 2014, 1:05
My father arrived in Normandy on D Day plus 6. He was a field engineer attached to the 69th Brigade, which in turn was part of 50th Tyne Tees Infantry Division.
I know nothing very much about his war. As with most veterans he didn't talk about "it". He died when I was 17 so I never got to ask him.
Sent via GuardianWitness
By foxhunter
1 June 2014, 1:37
My Dad at age 21, (now 91), relaxing between duties as a member of the 1st Bucks Battalion sniper team, in Ouistreham, shortly after D Day. Partially sunken boats can be seen on the other side of the canal, behind him. He landed on D Day in the second wave on Sword beach, and tells poignant, hair raising and sometimes amusing tales of his war time experiences. D Day was his first experience of live combat (he joined as a boy soldier aged 14), he describes the "incredible cacophony" of artillery fire as they neared the beach, which intensified with a Dornier aircraft being shot down a few hundred yards away as they came into land, and the shock of seeing a body being carried down the beach as he travelled up. Travelling in a "Duck" he got onto the beach with dry feet, only to be sent back into the water to drag out a mine sweeping trolley which had got stuck. He was one of a team of snipers on the Pointe du Siege, facing the Germans in Salenelles over the Baie de l'Orne.
Sent via GuardianWitness
By Samantha Williams
3 June 2014, 23:33
10.32am BST
In the Commonwealth war cemetery at Bayeux, wreaths are being laid for the fallen. Prince Charles has laid one, and now David Cameron, the UK prime minister; Tony Abbott, the Australian PM; and Jerry Mateparae, governor-general of New Zealand, are taking their turn.
10.28am BST
Back home, says Obama "an army of women, including my grandmother, rolled up their sleeves to build an arsenal for democracy".
10.25am BST
At Omaha beach, says Obama:
Blood soaked the water. Bombs broke the sky. Hell's beach earned its name.
10.23am BST
We are not here just to celebrate victory, Obama says.
We come to tell the story of the men and women who did it, so it remains seared into the memory of the future world.
We tell this story for the old soldiers who pull themselves a little straighter today for those who never made it home.
10.22am BST
Obama thanks the people of France. They have taken care of the fallen troops whose tombs are here, he says: "We are forever grateful."
10.20am BST
Obama says:
More than 150,000 souls set off to this slither of sand which held not just the course of a war, but the course of history.
10.16am BST
Barack Obama is speaking now at Colleville-sur-Mer of the events leading up to 6 June 1944:
If prayers were made of sounds, the noise over England that night would have deafened the world.
10.14am BST
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have just arrived at Bayeux for the ceremony at the war cemetery there.
10.13am BST
Hollande says he was born in Normandy, in Rouen. Obama, he adds, was born in Hawaii, which also saw suffering during the war. This should never be forgotten, he says.
Normandy, which is hosting the whole world today we are united here.
10.10am BST
Hollande says 6 June 1944 was the most important day in the second world war.
He mentions the names of some of the men lost: a father and son, one killed in Normandy, one in Italy; brothers who are buried in the Normandy cemetery.
10.07am BST
Hollande says every man who set foot on Omaha beach on 6 June was a hero.
They ran, armed with courage, towards the lines of the enemy.
More than 20,000 Americans paid with their lives here in Normandy.
10.06am BST
The French-US ceremony at Colleville-sur-Mer has begun.
President Francois Hollande is speaking.
Today we commemorate a memorable date in our history, where our two peoples merged in the same fight the battle of liberty.
6 June 1944 was a horrendous battlefield. That is what we try to remember here, 70 years later.
9.58am BST
A moving story from reader Helen Dodd who has commented below her grandfather was at the service at Bayeux cathedral this morning:
My Grandfather, Joe Hoare is at Bayeux Cathedral today, with my Mum. At the age of 92, he survived the Atlantic and Arctic convoys, as well as the Battle of the Atlantic.
It was many years before he spoke about his difficult times in the war: he always spoke fondly of the friends he'd made in the Navy and in America, many of whom became lifelong friends .
9.53am BST
Obama and Hollande are now arriving for the ceremony at the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer.
9.51am BST
The Queen has published a message in the official D-Day brochure:
I am very pleased to be able to join veterans here in Normandy to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings.
On June 6 1944, after months of planning and training, the largest amphibious assault in history was launched to secure freedom in Europe.
9.49am BST
The helicopter of French president Francois Hollande has also now arrived at Colleville-sur-Mer.
9.38am BST
Barack Obama's helicopter, Marine One, has just landed in Colleville-sur-Mer, where the president will give a speech as part of the D-day commemorations.
Obama and the French president, Francois Hollande, will attend a ceremony at the cemetery for the US war dead. Some 9,387 American troops are buried at the cemetery close to Omaha beach.
9.29am BST
At 9.30am BST on 6 June 1944 came the first official confirmation of the Normandy beach landings, issued by General Dwight D Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe:
Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.
9.24am BST
More from my colleague Caroline Davies at the Bayeux war cemetery:
Among those at Bayeux waiting for the dignitaries is Australian Michael Pirrie, here to honour his uncle Richard Pirrie, a footballer from Melbourne, who died on his 24th birthday on Juno beach.
He was clutching a black and white photograph of his uncle, to show Australian prime minister Tony Abbott.
9.19am BST
A ceremony is taking place now in Arromanches, a joint French-Dutch service to commemorate the events of 70 years ago. The Royal Netherlands Motorised Infantry Brigade was a small unit that took part in the Battle of Normandy in 1944.
9.12am BST
Some new pictures of the ceremony at Bayeux Cathedral, which has just ended:
9.08am BST
President Barack Obama has just landed in Caen, Normandy.
He is heading to Colleville-sur-Mer, where he will give a speech later.
9.07am BST
My colleague Caroline Davies is in Bayeux this morning. She sends this report:
At the Bayeux war cemetery, which is principally a British shrine, veterans are gathering ahead of a service of remembrance which will be attended by the Queen and prime minister David Cameron.
This is one of the most emotional events for many of the veterans as they parade past the neat rows of 3,935 uniform white headstones. A stone plaque commemorates the 1,807 British and Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen whose bodies were never found.
9.00am BST
My colleague Philip Oltermann reports from Berlin that, although chancellor Angela Merkel will attend commemorations in Normandy today, the 70th anniversary of D-day " is unlikely to register much with the wider public".
Merkel will today visit the Commonwealth cemetery of Ranville, where 133 German soldiers were laid to rest.
Few other countries have actively engaged as much with the crimes of their past as the second world war's chief aggressor, but in a year in which the first world war, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler are commemorated, D-day has inevitably been marginalised.
Even without other anniversaries to compete against, the Normandy landings fail to have the same symbolic resonance in Germany as they have in Anglo-American memory.
8.57am BST
The dedication of the new cathedral bell at Bayeux is taking place now. Prince Charles, on behalf of the Queen, tells the Archbishop of Paris, who is making the blessing, that the bell is to be named "Thérèse Benedicte".
The bell is blessed in French, English and German.
8.46am BST
70 years ago at this moment:
08.45hrs
The English channel
From his command HQ on the battleship USS Augusta, General Omar Bradley, commander of the US landing forces, contemplates abandoning the disaster of Omaha beach. Supporting waves of US troops were about to be ordered to land on other beaches, leaving a vast hole in the centre of the invasion.
8.41am BST
Thanks to readers who are contributing comments below and sharing their stories of D-day:
My Granddad and my Wife's Granddad were both off the beaches of Normandy D-Day. Neither of them spoke much about it; but I know my Granddad who'd survived both Arctic convoys and the Battle of the Atlantic would have been somewhere off the North East of the Landings in the Destroyer screen looking to defend the fleet from U-Boats and E-Boats.
My wife's Granddad was a signaller on a LSI and was off Omaha Beach; he was also reluctant to talk about his experiences, but after a night in the pub with me I managed to get little bits of reflections. He told me about dropping off supplies in a landing craft the next day and seeing the covered bodies of the american servicemen lined up like they were on parade for the burial details and picking up wounded to be transferred to ships to take them to England. He told me it was the saddest thing he'd ever seen - they were so young most of them. (he was only 21)
8.38am BST
The service pays "special tribute" to those who took part in the Normandy landings and are still living. A number of them are in the cathedral this morning. The congregation is hearing this address to the veterans:
that private moment when an elderly serviceman stands beside the grave of a fallen comrade
You are witness to the high price that had to be paid to rid this continent of a tragic evil.
8.34am BST
The service taking place now in the cathedral at Bayeux is one of the two UK-French national ceremonies of commemoration for the 70th anniversary of D-day.
The Royal British Legion, which has organised the ceremony, says in the congregation are "veterans and the people of Bayeux as well as senior UK, Australian, New Zealand, French and European allied political representatives".
8.27am BST
8.23am BST
The priest leading the prayers at Bayeux cathedral apologies, I don't have his name asks the congregation to remember also the German soldiers "swept up" in the war.
8.19am BST
The Royal British Legion service at the cathedral at Bayeux is beginning. Many veterans from many different countries are in attendance, along with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cambridge, and politicians including David Cameron, French prime minister Manuel Valls and Australian prime minister Tony Abbott.
8.11am BST
My colleague Richard Norton-Taylor was born on D-day, in the afternoon of 6 June 1944. He has written this account:
My mother heard about the Normandy landings on the radio just before going into labour. She remembered seeing 'all the planes flying very low overhead with special Allied markings on the wings'.
'I was worried as the matron kept coming in to inquire what I was going to call my son,' my mother told me. 'I thought that something must be wrong with the baby but the press had been calling to see if any boys had been born that day, and was I going to christen him Bernard [after Montgomery] or Dwight [after Eisenhower]?' Monty might have been even worse.
7.51am BST
As my colleague Jason Deans reports, the BBC's 8am news bulletin on 6 June 1944 carried no confirmation of the D-day landings that had begun an hour-and-half earlier the official nod came later in the morning but did warn that "a new phase in the Allied air offensive" had begun.
It quoted German reports that "Allied airborne troops have been landed" and naval forces were "engaged with Allied landing-craft".
At 0800: news bulletin from D-Day read by Benedict Cumberbatch #tomorrowstodaytonight pic.twitter.com/Mo7MrYkHu0
7.43am BST
This hour-by-hour retelling of the events of 6 June 1944 put together as part of the Guardian and Observer's commemoration of the 60th anniversary in 2004 is worth a read. Here's what it has to say about what was happening at this time, 70 years ago:
07.30hrs
Gold, Juno and Sword beaches, Normandy
H-Hour on the British and Canadian beaches, as the low tide is one hour later further east. The British use their armour far more effectively than the Americans, with many floating tanks coming ashore to provide vital assistance to the infantry.
7.37am BST
UK prime minister David Cameron is in France for the commemorations and has this to say about the continuing importance of the D-day landings:
As we gather on the beaches of Normandy to remember the extraordinary sacrifices made for peace, there has never been a more important time to underline our belief in collective defence.
Through the searing experiences of moments like D-day, we learnt how much more we could achieve by working together as allies than by fighting alone.
That future is why so many of our servicemen gave their lives - and protecting the peace they fought for is the greatest way we can honour those who fell.
7.31am BST
Guardian Witness has been compiling first-person accounts of D-day from those who were there or who were involved in the operation. You can read a collection of those stories here.
Reader Phill Burrows sent this story about his father who landed on D-day near Pegasus bridge. It was the first time he'd ever left Northern Ireland:
Bleaching the date of birth on his identity papers, and getting away with it, my father joined the Royal Ulster Rifles aged 17.
Hed also heard they were recruiting for a new section that were going to be part of an airborne brigade, and volunteered for it.
Sent via GuardianWitness
By ID8372479
5 June 2014, 11:19
7.24am BST
7.18am BST
Around 3,000 Australians fought in support of the D-day landings; 18 were killed. My colleague Richard Nelsson sends me these examples of how Australian newspapers reported the start of the "vast sea and air operation".
The Sydney Morning Herald reported:
Airborne troops had been been landed behind the enemy's lines on a scale far larger than ever before seen, with great accuracy and extremely little loss.
Massed airborne landings in France have already been successfully effected Fire from German shore batteries had already been largely quelled. Obstacles constructed in the sea had not been as difficult as expected.
7.15am BST
The day's commemorations in Normandy have already begun.
At midnight there was a vigil at the Pegasus Bridge, marking the first assault of the D-day invasion when airborne Allied soldiers landed in the dead of night 70 years ago.
7.10am BST
There has been a wealth of coverage leading up to the anniversary; it has been hard to pluck out highlights, but here are some of the best from the Guardian this week.
This interactive, showing D-day landing scenes in 1944 and the present day.
Like many others, I missed the landing area. Fortunately I landed. Many of the others drowned. We had to make our way to the bridge. I got there at 9am and it had been partially destroyed, but not completely. So we blew it up.
Unlike my colleagues, I had the chance to live my life, have my family, and they did not. That's the main thing I think.
Those poor kids, running up the beach. Just 18- or 19-year-olds
We did what we did, what we had to do. This is the final time for me. I am not coming back any more. It's just too much.
6.59am BST
My colleague Caroline Davies describes the ceremonies and tributes we will see today:
Friday's international ceremony is at Sword, the most eastern of the five beaches, and assaulted by the 3rd British Infantry Division with some 29,000 men landing there. Its location serves as a fitting tribute not just to the 156,000 men who made up the Allied invasion force, but also the 177 Free France commandos who took part in ground operations on D-day alongside the British.
The sacrifices made by the French, up to 20,000 civilians killed mainly as a result of allied bombing, are to be recognised with a national memorial service at the Caen memorial on Friday morning.
Many of the British veterans will visit Bayeux, known as the British shrine, for a Royal British Legion service at midday on Friday at the cathedral followed by an service of remembrance at the war graves cemetery where 4,144 second world war soldiers from the Commonwealth are buried.
The Bayeux Memorial bears the names of 1,800 men from Commonwealth land forces who died during intense fighting during the advance into Normandy and have no known grave. The Prince of Wales will watch a short parade of veterans, joined by Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, who will be accompanied by seven Australian D-day veterans. Some 3,000 Australians fought in support of the D-day landings, with 18 killed.
6.55am BST
Welcome to rolling coverage of commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings.
My colleagues Caroline Davies and Kim Willsher are in France throughout the day, and this blog will draw together their reports with coverage of commemorations taking place around the world.
Continue reading...