Before and After the Storm: Stunning D-Day Photos Through the Lens of Frank Scherschel

D-Day. The word itself conjures up images of intense fighting on the beaches of Normandy, France. June 6, 1944, marked a turning point in World War II. Allied forces launched a massive invasion against German defenses. It was a day of immense bravery and sacrifice. Many photographs document this historic event.

Frank Scherschel, a photographer for LIFE magazine, captured a different side of D-Day. He took color photographs both before and after the invasion. His photos show scenes beyond the well-known battles.  Most of these images were never published in the magazine. They offer a fresh perspective.

Before the invasion, American troops spent months training in England. They prepared for the challenges ahead. Scherschel’s photos show these soldiers in small English towns. They are seen interacting with locals, practicing drills, and getting ready for the unknown. This was a crucial time.

The training was intense and rigorous.  Soldiers practiced landing operations, using their equipment, and working as a team. They knew the invasion would be dangerous. They prepared as best they could. They honed their skills.

After the initial landings, the fighting moved inland. The French countryside was green and lush.  Fields of crops, rolling hills, and quaint villages provided a backdrop of unexpected beauty. These images offer a moment of calm amidst the chaos of war. Scherschel also captured scenes of everyday life in rural France.  Farmers are seen working in their fields.  Children are playing in the streets. 

As Allied forces pushed further into France, they liberated towns and villages from German occupation The journey to Paris was a significant milestone.  The city had been under German occupation for four years.  Its liberation was a major symbolic victory. It was a turning point in the war.

The liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944, was a momentous occasion. Scherschel was there to document the historic event.  People were dancing, singing, and waving flags.  They are embracing American and French soldiers.  The joy is palpable. It is a moment of pure elation.

#1 Troops and civilians pass the time on the River Thames in the spring of 1944

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#2 There were flowers blooming everywhere, and everywhere the people waited for the news from England. It was as though the whole nation stood on tiptoe, straining to hear the thunder of guns.

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#3 American combat engineers eat a meal atop boxes of ammunition stockpiled for the impending D-Day invasion, May 1944

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#4 An American corporal stacks cans of gasoline in preparation for the upcoming invasion of France, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, May 1944

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#5 A small town in England in the spring of 1944, shortly before D-Day

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#6 An American Army chaplain kneels next to a wounded soldier in order to administer the Eucharist and Last Rites, France, 1944

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#7 An abandoned German machine gun, France, June 1944

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#8 Magazines scattered among the rubble of the heavily bombed town of Saint-Lô, Normandy, France, summer 1944

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#9 An American tank crew takes a breather on the way through the town of Avranches, Normandy, summer 1944

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#10 “We thought it was going to be murder but it wasn’t. To show you how easy it was, I ate my bar of chocolate. In every other operational trip, I sweated so much the chocolate they gave us melted in my breast pocket.” — Frank Scherschel describing his experiences photographing the Normandy invasion from the air, before he joined Allied troops heading inland. Above: GIs search ruined homes in western France after D-Day.

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#11 View of the ruins of the Palais de Justice in the town of St. Lo, France, summer 1944. The red metal frame in the foreground is what’s left of an obliterated fire engine

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#12 “All the civilized world loves France and Paris. Americans share this love with a special intimacy born in the kinship of our revolutions, our ideas and our alliances in two great wars.” — LIFE on the relationship between the U.S. and its longtime European ally.

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#13 Along the coast of France, June 1944

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#14 From D-Day until Christmas 1944, German prisoners of war were shipped off to American detention facilities at a rate of 30,000 per month. Above: Captured German troops, June 1944

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#15 Maintenance work on an American P-47 Thunderbolt in a makeshift airfield in the French countryside, summer 1944

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#16 A French couple shares cognac with an American tank crew, northern France, summer 1944

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#17 A P-38 fighter plane sits in the background as the pilot arrives in a captured German vehicle, France, 1944

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#18 Church services in dappled sunlight, France, 1944

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#19 American Army trucks (note cyclist hitching a ride) parade down the Champs-Elysées the day after the liberation of Paris by French and Allied troops, August 1944

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#20 Frenchmen transport painted British and American flags for use in a parade, summer 1944

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#21 Tanks under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris during liberation celebrations, August 1944

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#22 “Paris is like a magic sword in a fairy tale — a shining power in those hands to which it rightly belongs, in other hands tinsel and lead. Whenever the City of Light changes hands, Western Civilization shifts its political balance. So it has been for seven centuries; so it was in 1940; so it was last week.” — LIFE after the French capital was liberated in August 1944.

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#23 Free French General and military governor of the French capital Pierre Koenig, left, pictured during ceremonies held the day after the liberation of Paris, August 1944

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#24 Celebrations in Paris after the liberation of the city, August 1944

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#25 American troops stand beside a World War 1 monument bedecked with French flags after the town (exact location unknown) was liberated from German occupying forces, summer 1944

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