INCREDIBLE images of Allied troops show our heroes being waved off to fight in Normandy - before celebrating the monumental invasion.
The historic black-and-white snaps show loving wives and playful kids sending the soldiers on their way before the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.
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Other fascinating pictures captured the largest seaborne invasion in history and our heroes' efforts to liberate German-occupied France, and Europe, from the Nazi grip.
The enormous operation paved the way for the Allied victory on the Western Front, which led to the end of World War II.
Now these images have been released to mark the 75th anniversary of the Tommies' efforts to win the war.
A soldier has a go at turning the skipping rope, as he and his fellow soldiers watch children playing, before they are due to depart to France, circa 1944Credit: Corbis - Getty
In France: A British tommy, one of the liberators of Caen, makes friends with a French girl by sharing a kettle of soup with herCredit: Corbis - Getty
British soldiers joke as they read a tourist guide about France aboard a landing craft on June 6 1944, while Allied forces storm the Normandy beaches on D-DayCredit: AFP - Getty
On the British troops' passage in Cherbourg (France) for the ceremonies of the 20th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy, Sir Winston Churchill was offered a light by a Frenchman. He was accompanied by General Cecil Moore (right)Credit: Getty - Contributor
Money was raised to provide soldiers with cigarettes, drink and food. Above: residents in East Ham worked together to provide troops with bottles of milk and additional suppliesCredit: Alamy
In 1944, British troops pictured holding a German prisoner in their camouflaged armoured vehicle during the fighting for Caen, FranceCredit: Getty - Contributor
Less than one week after landing in bitter fighting in the D-Day landings, two American soldiers enjoy bathing on a French invasion beachCredit: Getty - Contributor
French civilians laugh at a German prisoner of war being transported through Cherbourg in a handcart, about 1944Credit: Corbis - Getty
First organised show for troops in Normandy following D-DayCredit: Time Life Pictures
D-Day - Limbering up for the invasionCredit: Alamy
Three French boys looking at a knocked-out German Panther tank in the Falaise pocket, August 25, 1944Credit: Getty - Contributor
British Commandos at their UK base before D-Day on June 6, 1944Credit: Alamy
Incredible colourised WWII footage shows reality of life on the frontline for troops
Landing craft pictured on the beach during D-Day on June 6, 1944, on the Normandy coastCredit: AP:Associated Press
Empty shells on the deck of a ship after the D-Day invasion off the French coast - the colourised images were filmed by Hollywood director George StevensCredit: AP:Associated Press
U.S. troops drive through a town by a sign for the Hotel du Lion during World War II in FranceCredit: AP:Associated Press
American troops drive down the Camps-Elysees after Paris was liberated from the NazisCredit: AP:Associated Press
Seventy-five years after the D-Day invasion into France, colourised pictures reveal sailors gathered on the deck of a shipCredit: AP:Associated Press
Hollywood director George Stevens stands on a ship off the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944Credit: AP:Associated Press
Gen. Phillippe Leclerc, foreground second right, stands with a captured German officer, left, after the liberation of Paris in 1944Credit: AP:Associated Press
British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery with a pearl-handled pistol, talking to other British officersCredit: AP:Associated Press
Another shot of director George Stevens on D-Day - Stevens was assigned to to head up the combat motion-picture coverage, but he was also using 16-millimeter colour film for himself of the same events, creating a kind of personal video journalCredit: AP:Associated Press
US soldiers in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background during World War II after the liberation of ParisCredit: AP:Associated Press
Charles de Gaulle, right, speaks to a French citizen, centre, and another French officer in Paris after it was wrestled back from the Nazi gripCredit: AP:Associated Press
US General Dwight D. Eisenhower attends a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in ParisCredit: AP:Associated Press
A German officer is escorted by US soldiers after the liberation of Paris in 1944, following the monumental D-Day operationCredit: AP:Associated Press
A French girl holding a weapon watches US troops drive past in Paris is brought to life in rediscovered colour imagesCredit: AP:Associated Press
Soliders sit on a tank holding a sign about a mine field during World War II in France on June 6, 1944Credit: AP:Associated Press
French women embrace and smile at US troops parading through Paris after beating the Nazi forces in the cityCredit: AP:Associated Press
Crowds cheer US soldiers after their efforts helped to drive Nazi troops out of the French capital in 1944Credit: AP:Associated Press
US General Omar Bradley salutes as Charles de Gaulle, background left, speaks before for a military parade down the Champs-ElyseesCredit: AP:Associated Press
Ships and blimps sit off the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944 - as Allied forces carried out an invasionCredit: AP:Associated Press
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