Striking pictures show the French beach town of Normandy in the middle of World War II and 72 years later

D-Day - the day allied forces invaded Normandy during World War II - marked a major victory, and is said to have been a turning point in the war.

On that day, June 6, 1944, around 156,000 troops landed on beaches around Normandy, France. Some 10,000 allied troops were killed, along with 9,000 Germans.

Over 70 years after the invasion, Reuters photographer Chris Helgren collected archive pictures of D-Day and returned to France to photograph their locations as they appear today.