Weather forecasts in June 1944 played a vital role in D-Day as soldiers gathered in southern England waiting to head to Nazi-occupied France.

More than a year in the planning, US Gen Dwight D Eisenhower had hoped for the invasion to take place on 5 June but after meeting with weather experts at Southwick House, Portsmouth, he changed the launch date.

Group Capt James Stagg was the chief meteorological adviser and predicted there would be a storm on 5 June but a break in the bad weather the following day.

Image source, National Meteorological Archive

Air crews at Tarrant Rushton airfield in Dorset are getting ready for their next mission.

The RAF men from the base flew the Halifax bombers which towed the first six gliders into occupied France overnight.

They released further gliders full of troops in the early hours of this morning.

This evening the crews will be part of Operation Mallard, dropping reinforcements of both men and equipment behind enemy lines.

Image source, Getty Images

A vast fleet of Allied ships remains off the Normandy beaches, although some are now heading back to ports in Hampshire and Dorset to reload and return.

Of the ships which remain off the French beaches, some are now being repurposed to support the allied troops.

Naval historian, Nick Hewitt, explains how.

Amazing stories of bravery are emerging from our forces on the beaches.

Soldiers from the 5th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire regiment landed at Juno beach at 07:30 this morning tasked with securing the beach head for further landings and supplies.

They’ve successfully destroyed enemy defences and taken a number of prisoners.

The success of the beach landings was dependant on earlier airborne missions further inland inside occupied France.

The first British troops to land in Normandy flew in gliders from Tarrant Rushton late on 5 June 1944.

The first six gliders to land in Normandy carried troops from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, who seized the Orne river and Caen canal bridges just 20 minutes into D-Day.

A total of 26 Halifaxes flew in the early hours of 6 June 1944, with another 32 taking off in the early evening, each towing a wooden Horsa glider carrying troops or a Hamilcar glider, which carried tanks.

Image source, Getty Images

Reinforcements have arrived at two bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne which were captured by the Allies last night in the first mission of D-Day.

Men from the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, led by Maj John Howard, quickly overcame the enemy to secure the strategic crossings after a daring glider landing just after midnight.

In the last half hour, Lord Lovat’s commandos have arrived, after fighting their way up from the beach codenamed Sword.

The men were alerted to their arrival by the sound of bagpipes.

Meanwhile, British aircrews in Oxfordshire are preparing for their second big mission of D-Day, codenamed Operation Mallard.

RAF Brize Norton and RAF Harwell are among a number of airfields earmarked to take part in a series of flights to drop more airborne forces in gliders into Normandy.

The men from the 6th Airlanding Brigade will offer much needed reinforcements to troops already on the ground.

David Rushton, a volunteer at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, said getting an 18-pounder anti-tank gun would have been a "very, very difficult exercise".

Air crews returning to Greenham Common in Berkshire have said during debriefings that their mission seems to have gone well.

They reported only light casualties among the US troop-carrying planes flying from there and other bases in the Thames Valley.

So far, little information from the paratroopers of America’s 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the Screaming Eagles, has filtered back to the headquarters of their commander, Gen Maxwell, on the edge of the airfield.

Among those responsible for getting military vehicles off the ships and landing craft and on to the beaches was Ernest Aylott.

He drove lorries loaded with ammunition up Sword Beach on D-Day and his mission to supply the front lines through France continued until the end of the war.

He was later awarded the French Legion d’Honneur. He died in 2021, aged 97.

Within the last few minutes, the first Americans have reached the church of Colleville Sur Mer.

The men were based in Dorset ahead of the invasion and left for the beach code named Omaha from Weymouth and Portland overnight.

They have sustained by far the most casualties of any of the invasion forces with the beach gaining the nickname “Bloody Omaha”.

While troops are still trying to get off the beach, Germans have started to surrender.

Image source, Getty Images

Up to 7,000 ships and landing craft were involved, delivering a total of 156,000 men and 10,000 vehicles to the five beaches along the carefully selected stretch of the Normandy coast.

The landings would not have been possible without the support of massive air and naval forces, which were much stronger than those of the Germans.

But on D-Day alone, as many as 4,400 troops died from the combined allied forces. Some 9,000 were wounded or missing.

Total German casualties on the day are not known, but are estimated as being between 4,000 and 9,000 men.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

D-Day was the culmination of the biggest military planning exercise in history. Days before the invasion was given the go ahead, Allied leaders gathered in secret in a Hampshire village.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment have taken a number of prisoners as they close in on their main objective of capturing the town of Arromanches.

The troops landed just before 07:30 this morning on the beach codenamed Gold.

They’ve managed to crush the initial enemy counter attack but still have to take out a number of guns in the village of Le Hamel, and have also been tasked with capturing a radar station.

In Hurley, the American secret service agents are busy decoding communications from France at a top secret base named Station Victor.

They have an important mission in protecting allied spies in occupied France.

The survival of these agents is key because the information they provide will be vital to the allies in helping them to advance through France.

RAF personnel at Tarrant Rushton airfield are busy preparing for the second part of their D-Day operations.

Halifax bomber crews from the Dorset airfield towed six gliders into occupied France overnight landing allied troops in the first operation of D-Day, with further drops in the early hours.

This evening, Operation Mallard will swing into action, with more gliders landing airborne troops.

The massive seaborne fleet is the largest in history and was planned from headquarters in Portsmouth.

It not only comprises warships and landing craft but also civilian ships and others which have been converted for different uses.

Among the vessels are a number of hospital ships which are preparing to take the wounded back to Southampton and Weymouth.

Soldiers from the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry are working on the beach codenamed Sword to set up supply dumps.

They’re part of number six beach group, tasked with readying the beach for further landings.

The soldiers are also setting up field dressing stations to treat the wounded and rescuing vehicles from the sea for repairs.

The initial assault troops are trying to work their way inland.

Lt Col Ingram Murray, retired army officer who volunteers at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum and explains what's happening.

American troops, who’ve been based in Dorset and left for Normandy from Weymouth and Portland, are still struggling to gain a foothold on the beach codenamed Omaha.

They have sustained by far the most casualties of any of the invasion forces with the beach gaining the nickname “Bloody Omaha”.

But a small breakthrough may be in sight with destroyers coming closer inshore to fire at German defences.

We understand the warship the USS McCook has taken out two enemy guns, allowing small groups of soldiers to start to get off the beach.

Derek Luckhurst is the founder of the Castletown D-Day Centre in Portland.