D-Day landmarks protected to mark 75th anniversary

A series of Second World War landmarks including a group of sunken army tanks and training facilities for American soldiers are being granted protected status in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Normandy on D-Day was the largest combined land, air and naval operation in history and the new listings are all landmarks that were originally built to aid the offensive.

Among the listings are two tanks that were intended to support the invasion effort in June 1944.

Soon after departing for France however, the ship that was carrying them broke down and later capsized, plunging the tanks to the sea bed off the south coast of England where they have remained ever since.

Also listed are a group of replica landing craft and concrete structures built on Braunton Burrows in Devon, which were used to train American soldiers for disembarking in the D-Day landings.

Culture secretary Jeremy Wright says that while it is right to honour the memory of those who served in the campaign, “it is also right to recognise the engineering and ingenuity that enabled that offensive.”