D-Day pictures, then and now

[limr]

I visited Normany several years ago and was surprised at how powerful an experience it was to stand on Omaha and Utah Beach. These pictures are really well done and give people a sense of what it's like to see these places how they are now, knowing what happened there.

D-day landings scenes in 1944 and now ? interactive | Art and design | theguardian.com
"Peter Macdiarmid has taken photographs of locations in France and England to match with archive images taken before, during and after the D-day landings. The Allied invasion to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during the second world war took place on 6 June 1944. Operation Overlord was the largest seaborne invasion in military history, with more than 156,000 Allied troops storming the beaches of France
Photography then and now lets you move through time by tapping or clicking on a historic image to reveal the modern view. You can drag or swipe to control the speed of the transformation"

 

[hamlet]

This is amazing work, thank you for sharing. Here in town they have put up large images in the streets of those streets themselves of how they looked after the town was shelled in 1914. A wealth of knowledge was lost when people decided to bomb libraries, universities and many important landmarks in order to both destroy the peoples culture and their moral. It is reminiscent of the destruction of the library of Alexandria.

 

[limr]

This is amazing work, thank you for sharing. Here in town they have put up large images in the streets of those streets themselves of how they looked after the town was shelled in 1914. A wealth of knowledge was lost when people decided to bomb libraries, universities and many important landmarks in order to both destroy the peoples culture and their moral. It is reminiscent of the destruction of the library of Alexandria.

I agree. It's something that we only understand in concept here in America. We don't understand what it's like to live with ghosts like that. We get a little bit of it on the East Coast where we still have remnants of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, but it's not really the same. Perhaps the closest example we have is Sherman and his scorched earth policy during the 1864 "March to the Sea" - he destroyed everything between Atlanta and Savannah.

 

[terri]

That was fascinating! Thanks for the link. Imagery like this hits home in a way that reading "historical markers" can't provide. That is one well-executed project!

 

[Msteelio91]

Great read and photos, thanks for sharing

 

[Derrel]

Awesome find, Leonore. I am often impressed by the things The Guardian publishes on the web. I was greatly impressed by the then-and-now transitions and the almost perfect perspective matching that guy achieved. His careful work really was impressive. Hmmm..this is a type of photo project that I hope we see more of in the future.

 

[terri]

Awesome find, Leonore. I am often impressed by the things The Guardian publishes on the web. I was greatly impressed by the then-and-now transitions and the almost perfect perspective matching that guy achieved. His careful work really was impressive. Hmmm..this is a type of photo project that I hope we see more of in the future.

You should try one for your own area...just do a voiceover, too.

 

[pjaye]

That was very cool. Its a place I hope to visit some day. TFS.

 

[mishele]

That was amazing!! Thanks so much for sharing this!! I can't wait to show my dad. =)

 

[hamlet]

This is amazing work, thank you for sharing. Here in town they have put up large images in the streets of those streets themselves of how they looked after the town was shelled in 1914. A wealth of knowledge was lost when people decided to bomb libraries, universities and many important landmarks in order to both destroy the peoples culture and their moral. It is reminiscent of the destruction of the library of Alexandria.

I agree. It's something that we only understand in concept here in America. We don't understand what it's like to live with ghosts like that. We get a little bit of it on the East Coast where we still have remnants of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, but it's not really the same. Perhaps the closest example we have is Sherman and his scorched earth policy during the 1864 "March to the Sea" - he destroyed everything between Atlanta and Savannah.

Yes, and two things we've learned from all of this madness is that: human beings are prone to irrational thoughts and actions regardless of social or political allegiances, and don't keep the one and only DAMNED original copy of a work in a single place copy it to the far corners of the world!


Here is a rough translation of how one of the people there felt about all of what had transpired:

The house of his father was burned along with that of his brother; his friends and colleagues were killed before his eyes, and their bodies thrown into the water; townspeople, who were locked up in the station, were dragged out and shot; St. Peter's Church was destroyed; the town hall - one of the finest examples of late Gothic architecture in existence, was doomed, and the former market building at the university, the "Halles", went up in flames
In that building, the university was housed with his. hundreds of thousands of books, rare and ancient manuscripts, his unique collection of incunabula - everything was burned, until the last shred of paper. At this point, the Becker stopped halfway through the word library, "la biblio .." and bit his lower lip quivering. "La bib .." he tried again, and then he threw his head on his arms, which rested on the table, and burst into tears.

original picture: http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/wiki/images/Leuven_bibliotheek_1914.jpg

 

[jamesbjenkins]

Fascinating. I'm pretty obsessed with WWII history and relics.

Thanks for posting this!!!

 

[limr]

I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

I was never disinterested in WWII history, but it wasn't anything I thought of any more than other parts of history. Being more interested in the arts and literature, I was always more focused on that than the actual events.

My boyfriend is a historian and specializes in 20th century diplomatic and military history, so he'd been to Normandy several times. When we went there together, I knew it would be interesting to me, but I didn't expect it to be so emotional as well. I didn't have any personal connections to the active participants in the war. Both parents lived in Europe during the war and my father was even old enough to have fought, but Portugal wasn't officially involved. So it really took me by surprise when I was standing on the beach, looking at the dunes, and I just got all choked up. I just never quite understood the enormity of the invasion until that moment. It was absolutely astounding what was accomplished on those beaches, and what was lost as well.

If I may, here are some shots I took there:

The fields are now covered in wheat and poppies:

Day 15 - Wheat by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Utah Beach

Day 15 - Windbreak by limrodrigues, on Flickr


Day 146 - Beach by limrodrigues, on Flickr

The American cemetery:

Day 16 - Graves 4 by limrodrigues, on Flickr


Day 202 - Statue by limrodrigues, on Flickr

I believe these are over Omaha Beach, if I remember correctly:

 

[glun]

Great link. This is very dramatic as well makes me remember the movie 'saving private Ryan'

 

[cynicaster]

This is pretty incredible.

I especially like how you can drag your mouse over it and manually adjust the fade. It's pretty eerie when you hold the old/new mix at roughly 50/50 and can see the ghosts of old machines and nameless soldiers against the modern backdrop.