The ruins of Normandy: Unpublished color photos taken in northern France in 1944 show the devastating impact of the Allied Force's battle to defeat the Nazis in World War 2



A series of never-before-published color images of the devastation in northern France after the D-Day landings have been released by LIFE.com


The battle-scared landscapes of Normandy in northwest France are sharply brought into focus in a series of never-before-published color images taken in the aftermath of the D-Day landings on June 6 1944.



The five images were finally published earlier this month by LIFE.com to mark the 69th anniversary of the landings, a significant moment in World War 2 which resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control.



The pictures show allied soldiers shifting through the rubble of buildings reduced to dust and entire towns destroyed by intense warfare with the Nazis.

American troops clear wreckage in Saint-Lô in this previously unpublished photographs taken in Normandy following the D-Day landings

American troops pose for a photograph amongst the ruins of northern France in the summer of 1944

Vehicles and supplies are unloaded from an LST (landing ship, tank) at a Normandy beachhead The images were the work of LIFE photographer Frank Scherschel (1907-1981), who was an award-winning staff photographer for LIFE well into the 1950s.

On June 6, 1944, some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces , led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Veterans of the 1944 Normandy landings gathered earlier this month on June 6 at the site of history's largest amphibious invasion for a day of ceremonies marking D-Day's 69th anniversary.

Around two dozen U.S. vets, some in their old uniforms pinned with medals, stood and saluted during a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial overlooking Omaha Beach, where a U.S. cemetery holds the remains of over 9,000 Americans, including many who died during the vicious battle to storm the French shore under withering Nazi fire.

Soldiers driving through the ruins of an unnamed town somewhere in northwestern France in the summer of 1944

A destroyed town in northwest France, the Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe

These are other images that have been previously published of the devastation in northern France in 1944



American soldiers watch U.S. Army jeeps drive through the ruins of Saint-Lô, the town was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there during Operation Overlord in June 1944

A civilians couple walk through ruins of the heavily bombed ruins in the city of Saint-Lô, France, August 1944

Children watch an American Army jeep driving through the ruins of Saint-Lô

An American ambulance, a jeep and a truck are driving through the ruins of Saint-Lô, which was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there

Nuns and some children look on at the ruins of an almost totally destroyed church

Veterans of the 1944 Normandy landings gathered earlier this month on June 6 for a day of ceremonies marking D-Day's 69th anniversary

A Normandy Veteran looks at the headstones of fallen comrades at a remembrance and wreath laying ceremony to commemorate the start of the D-Day landings at Bayeux War Cemetery on June 6, 2013 in Bayeux, France



