Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. CNN values your feedback 1.

Veterans gathered Friday in Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of D-Day. Along the coastline and near the D-Day landing beaches, tens of thousands of onlookers attended the commemorations.

Bloody scenes would immediately follow the landings in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, where 156,000 Allied troops descended on northern France in an effort to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.

Historic photos illustrate the D-Day landings, which happened 81 years ago Friday, June 6. advertisement. ... On June 6, 1944, allied soldiers descended on the beaches of Normandy for D-Day ...

On the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, northern France, historian James Holland separates truth from myth.

D-Day -- the military term for the first day of the Normandy landings -- was the largest amphibious invasion ever undertaken and laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Germany in World War II.

(CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Veterans are gathering on the beaches of Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings — a pivotal moment that eventually led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler’s regime.