D-Day marked the ultimate collaboration between wartime allies, but 75 years on, those bonds are fraying. Macron called for those ties to continue as countries observed the somber occasion.
Image: Reuters/C. Barria
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French President Emmanuel Macron celebrated the strength and endurance of the multilateral bonds forged between World War II allies in two speeches marking the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy.
Speaking at a ceremony honoring the contribution of Allied soldiers during the D-Day landing and the battle to liberate France, Macron thanked allies for their wartime efforts and focused on the importance of the international alliances that arose from the horrors of war.
"The United States of America is never greater than when it is fighting for the freedom of others," he told Americans gathered at the service overlooking Omaha Beach. He thanked the US for helping to save Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany, saying France must continue to work to be worthy of the sacrifice.
"We must never forget to keep alive the alliance of free people," Macron said, adding that's what the victors did after the war by creating the United Nations.
"It's what the US did in setting up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. It's what, a few years later, the leaders of this continent did by bringing about the European Union.
"This promise of Normandy, we must find its essence once again to seize this commitment, what we owe to our homeland, to the alliance of countries with shared values, that of democracy and liberty."
Various world leaders joined veterans to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in northern France.
Image: Reuters/P. Wojazer
Paying respects
A visitor attends a cross at the Normandy American Cemetery on the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The cemetery contains 9,600 graves where US soldiers were buried. The Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 were the beginning of an Allied advancement towards Germany that saw the war's culmination less than a year later.
Image: Getty Images/S. Gallup
'Unbreakable bond'
The presidents of France and the United States embrace at the American cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer. Emmanuel Macron thanked allied nations for their sacrifice and praised "shared values of democracy and liberty." Donald Trump touched on the ongoing unity between the United States and France, saying "our bond is unbreakable."
Image: Reuters/C. Barria
Retracing the steps
Military reenactors walk along Gold Beach on the morning of the anniversary of the D-Day landings. 156,000 troops from allied countries including the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada joined forces in the audacious attack.
Image: Getty Images/C. Furlong
Dawn instrumental
Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie of the Scots Royal artillery stands on a Mulberry harbour near Arromanches Les Bains as he plays a replica set of Millin-Montgomery pipes on the morning of the anniversary.
Image: Getty Images/C. Furlong
Flying the flag
A Union Jack is seen here on Gold Beach on the morning of the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings. British troops embarked here on the morning of June 6.
Image: Getty Images/C. Furlong
Remembrance on Utah Beach
Utah was the westernmost of the five beaches where the troops landed. It was one of two where US forces came ashore.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J.-F. Monier
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Trump focuses on the US
Macron's speech ran in stark contrast to that of US President Donald Trump, who focused on the logistics, firepower and scale of the battle, as well as on recounting the efforts of soldiers during the invasion.
"These men moved through the fires of hell," he said. "They came here and saved freedom, and then they went home and showed us all what freedom is about."
He only briefly touched on the ongoing unity between the United States and France, saying "our bond is unbreakable."
"As we stand together upon this sacred earth, we pledge that our nations will forever be strong and united," Trump said. "We will forever be together. Our people will forever be bold. Our hearts will forever be loyal and our children and their children will forever and always be free."
The two leaders embraced and jointly awarded the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest award for merit, to five US veterans.
Trans-Atlantic relations have come under tremendous pressure since Trump's election in 2016, with Europe's liberalism and multilateralism a favorite target for the nationalist Trump.
Macron and Theresa May earlier laid a wreath at a new British memorialImage: Reuters/P. Wojazer
Similar calls for unity with the UK
Earlier in the day, Macron stood alongside British Prime Minister Theresa May to unveil a memorial honoring the British contribution to the D-Day landings.
The leaders laid wreaths at the base of a statue of three British soldiers during a somber ceremony at Gold Beach in Ser-sur-Mer, one of the landing sites for the largest seaborne invasion in history.
May and Macron spoke to a small audience of aging veterans, whom they thanked for their service.
May recalled the bravery and humility of the young men who stormed the French coast to help free the nation of Nazi Germany's brutal occupation.
Macron spoke of the enduring links between France and the UK, saying the statue was a "powerful symbol of unity."
"Nothing will ever wipe out these links and these shared values," he added.
Relations between mainland Europe and the UK are under particular stress after two years of failed Brexit negotiations.
Macron referenced this as he called for their bond to continue. "Whatever it takes, we will always stand together because this is our common destiny," he said in English.
On June 6, 1944, 24,000 Allied troops parachuted behind enemy lines in France, preceding about 160,000 troops storming Normandy's beaches. Tens of thousands of people died on the beaches, but the operation was successful, marking the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.
D-Day: Allies storm the Atlantic Wall
On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed at Normandy and opened a second front against the Nazis. It was the beginning of the end of World War II - and one of the most mythically charged moments in 20th century history.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Day of reckoning
The Normandy invasion is known historically as D-Day, but it remains unclear what exactly the "D" means. Whether it's simply a signifier for "Day," or it means "Decision," one thing is for certain. It was the beginning of one of the most significant battles in military history.
Image: Imago
Operation Overlord
The five sectors of the 80-kilometer (50-mile) stretch of Normandy coast where the landings happened were all given different names: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, and Juno. Apart from the US, 13 other nations were involved in the invasion. Troop contingents were provided by the Americans, British, Polish, Canadians, French, Greeks, Czechs and Australians.
Image: Imago
Commander in charge
The commander of the Allied forces in northern Europe was General Dwight Eisenhower, who would go on to become the 34th president of the United States. A few months prior to D-Day, Eisenhower had successfully led landings in Sicily and mainland Italy.
Image: Imago
Far-reaching weather report
Just before the planned start of Operation Overlord on June 5, storms broke over Normandy, forcing Allied commanders to push the invasion back a day. The largest amphibious landings in military history got underway on June 6. The weather was not ideal, but allies feared Germans would learn of their plans if the delay continued.
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Death commando
Around 156,000 soldiers reached land on D-Day. On five different locations on the beach, they stormed the "Atlantic Wall," where German Wehrmacht soldiers were perched in fortifications that had been built in anticipation of an assault. The allied troops were forced to run unprotected, first through water and then onto the beach, all the while under German fire.
Image: AP
Paratroopers
Before the D-Day Invasion began, paratroopers had touched ground early on June 6 in a bid to secure key positions behind the Atlantic Wall. The troopers were camouflaged (shown here); they also used war paint and Mohawks to frighten the enemy.
Image: Imago
Aerial and naval assault
At first, the beaches of Normandy were bombed from the air by the Allies. After the beach had been secured, over 1,000 warships and some 4,200 landing crafts converged on the coast. Further reinforcement was provided by thousands of planes and tanks.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Nifty maneuver
One of the reasons why "Operation Overlord" was so successful was that the German military command simply wasn't expecting it - at least not in Normandy. The Allies duped the Nazis into thinking they would land at Calais, near the Belgian border, and at a date later than June 6.
Image: AP
Nazis on vacation
Many leading NS officers had absolutely no idea D-Day was going to happen when it did. Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, for instance, was celebrating his wife's 50th birthday in the south of Germany when the invasion started. (Pictured above: Wehrmacht divisions at Normandy in 1940)
Image: Imago
A confident Hitler
When the invasion got underway, Adolf Hitler was sleeping in Obersalzberg. His officers didn't dare wake him, and when they did (at 10 in the morning), the Nazi leader was in surprisingly good spirits. After being briefed, he is said to have exclaimed: "The news couldn't be better!" Hitler was apparently pleased that the Allies were "finally in a place where we can defeat them."
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Almost a year of loss
Even if the Normandy landings were perhaps the decisive battle for the Allies, the final victory came at heavy price. It still took 11 months for peace to be declared in Europe, and many of the soldiers who took part in the invasion were shipped straight to the Asia Pacific shortly thereafter. The war lasted until September 2, 1945, when Japan capitulated.
Image: AP
Fallen heroes
Around 57,000 Allied soldiers lost their lives in Operation Overlord, which started on D-Day and continued until the end of August. Another 155,000 were injured and 18,000 reported missing. German losses rounded out at about 200,000. Each year on June 6, there is a ceremony of remembrance at Normandy. Heads of state and government and many veterans often make the trip to the French coast.
Image: AP
Settled dust
In 2004, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder became the first German leader to take part in the ceremonies at Normandy. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, shown embracing France's Jacques Chirac, chose his words carefully for the event: "We will never forget the victims." Schröder added: "It's not the old Germany of those dark years that I am representing today."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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One notable omission from Thursday's ceremonies was Russia. About 27 million Soviet soldiers and civilians died during the war, and the country played a major role in the defeat of the Nazis. Soviet troops did not partake in D-Day hostilities (aside from forced conscripts in Germany's Ostlegionen), but Russians had been invited to previous memorials.
