Standing in the shadows of giants: 1,475 statues fill the landscape beside D

Release time：2024-05-08 12:06:57 Source：Culture Current news portal

An impressive 1,475 statues have filled the landscape beside a D-Day memorial overlooking France's Golden Beach in honour of each of the servicemen who fell during the historic mission.

The Standing with Giants silhouettes are part of the For Your Tomorrow installation at the British Normandy Memorial, in Ver-Sur-Mer, France.

In a stunning nod to the servicemen who fell on D-Day itself, almost 80 years ago, the fields within the British Normandy Memorial campus have been filled with two-metre-tall statues of soldiers - representing the three military services.

Alongside the 1,475 silhouettes, the project will also install bespoke 'giants' to represent the only two women on the Memorial, nurses Sisters Evershed and Field.

The two heroic women died while saving 75 men from a sinking hospital ship.

The Standing with Giants silhouettes are part of the For Your Tomorrow installation at the British Normandy Memorial, in Ver-Sur-Mer, France

The staggering number of silhouettes represents the number of fatalities under British command on June 6, 1944

Statues of some 50 French resistance fighters are also set to be placed around the French Memorial.

Images of the project, which launched this Spring and open next Summer, show lush green fields dotted with figures that cast long shadows across the grass as the sun sets in the distance.

The sombre mood captures the deep emotion and tragedy behind the project as statues of men in helmets and guns strapped to their backs stand proudly on the French landscape.

The staggering number of silhouettes represents the number of fatalities under British command on June 6, 1944.

According to the British Normandy Memorial website, the instillation will be available to visit throughout Summer next year.

Standing with Giants is a community project, set up in 2019 by Oxfordshire community artist, Dan Barton, and a group of local volunteers.

They create large scale art instillations using recycled building materials, and provide meaningful spaces for people to visit, reflect, and remember.

Since February, families and organisation groups have been invited to take part in preparing the 1,475 statues om an Oxfordshire workshop ahead of the instillation in Normandy, due to take place this month.

According to the British Normandy Memorial website, the instillation will be available to visit throughout Summer next year

The British Normandy Memorial records the names of the 22,442 servicemen and women under British command who fell on D-Day

Those who lost a loved one in the historic mission also have the opportunity to commemorate them with a Tribute plaque beside one of the statues.

The British Normandy Memorial said: 'Plaques ordered by May 6 2024 will be displayed alongside the Standing with Giants installation for the summer of 2024, allowing ‘your giant’ to stand amongst peers'.

The plaques will remain on the grounds for a minimum of five years.

For £150, people will be able to dedicate a black plaque with a printed white inscription, attached to a 1.2m stake that will stand in the wildflower meadow of the British Normandy Memorial in the summer of the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings.

They will also be offered the opportunity for their plaque to have a silhouette of a soldier, sailor or pilot.

The British Normandy Memorial records the names of the 22,442 servicemen and women under British command who fell on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944. 

This includes people from more than 30 different countries. 

Inscribed in stone, their names have never, until now, been brought together. 

The site also includes a French Memorial, dedicated to the memory of French civilians who died during this time. 

What does D-Day stand for and how is the Normandy landings anniversary marked?

The famous D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 were a triumph for Allied forces in World War Two and constitute one of the best remembered military operations of the conflict.

The project followed five years of conflict with Adolf Hitler's Germany and the Axis powers, during which the majority of mainland western Europe had fallen under Nazi occupation.

D-Day signalled the beginning of a changing of the tide on the continent, which eventually ended with the Western Allies' victory.

What were the D-Day landings?

The landings, codenamed Operation Overlord, involved British, American, and other Allied forces crossed the English Channel to launch an offensive on the Nazi occupation in Normandy.

The operation involved boats and aircraft of all shapes and sizes, for a variety of purposes, whether it was to sweep the area ahead for mines, or deliver the respective armies to France.

In total the invasion involved 153,110 troops, supported by 10,440 aircraft and 6,330 ships, with paratroopers landing behind enemy lines in advance of the main assault.

The forces were roughly divided across five beaches: Gold and Sword were attacked by British troops, Juno by Canadian, and Omaha and Utah by the US.

After less than a week, all five beaches had been secured, with more troops, vehicles and equipment being delivered to the Allies.

 Why is it so important?

Many historians describe D-Day as the 'beginning of the end' of the Second World War.

With victory declared in Europe 11 months later, on May 7, 1945, this represented the start of the Allied forces pushing back from what was the furthest Nazi occupation expanded during the war.

The move meant that Germany was at war on three fronts: in France, Italy, and Russia.

This task eventually proved too much for Hitler's army, with Allied victory on the continent secured on May 8 1945.

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