D-Day

D-Day Legacy Is The 'Essential Foundations Of Modern Army', Army Chief Says

The lessons learned from D-Day are the "essential foundations" to the British Army, according to the head of the Army.

General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith made the comments in Normandy, where world leaders and veterans gathered to mark 75 years since the landings.

Speaking to Forces News, the Chief of the General Staff said: "Today's Army sets quite a lot of its benchmarks for performance by what happened here and the veterans embarked on an enterprise of near-unprecedented scale.

"Many of the lessons that were important for victory in Normandy remain essential foundations to the modern British Army".

The mission, which involved thousands of Allied troops, represented the start of the campaign to liberate north-west Europe from Nazi occupation.

A ceremony at Arromanches was one of the many events marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

D-Day was the largest single-day amphibious invasion in history, involving nearly 7,000 vessels and 4,000 landing craft.

Commemoration events in both the UK and France were held over two days, with some British veterans retracing the journey they made on D-Day from Portsmouth to Normandy.

Prime Minister Theresa May said those who had fought had "laid down their lives" to allow for a better future.