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Explore the history of this famous warship and discover new stories from some of her veterans as we mark 80 years of HMS Belfast.

How did these three giants on the world stage get on with each other at Tehran?

One of the ‘old men’ of his unit, Hollis performed two acts of heroism which won him the only Victoria Cross awarded on D-Day.

Explore how D-Day was planned and hear the stories of those who witnessed the events of 6 June 1944. 

The Normandy campaign saw the Anglo-American armies inflict a decisive defeat on the German military machine. The British Army's role was pivotal, but victory came at a price. Between D-Day and the end of August some 83,000 British, Canadian and Polish troops became casualties, of whom almost 16,000 were killed. 

Over 338,000 soldiers, a third of them French, were rescued between 27 May and 4 June on the beaches of the French port of Dunkirk. Here are seven photographs from the evacuation of Dunkirk.

2 years before D-Day and Operation Overlord, the Allies mounted a daring rehearsal raid on the French port of Dieppe. The attack ended in disaster, but out of its ashes came one of the greatest unsung inventions of the Second World War, one that would keep the Allies in the fight when they returned to invade Normandy: the Mulberry Harbours.

Watch clips taken from colour footage filmed on 7 June 1944 during the Battle of Normandy.

A clip from 'Left of the Line', a Ministry of Information short film showing the advance of British and Canadian troops from the beaches into Western Europe.

After years of planning and preparation, Winston Churchill wanted to see D-Day unfold with his own eyes.

Ted Cordery served on board the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Belfast from 1943-1944 as a Leading Seaman Torpedoman. It was a period in which the ship and her crew would take part in some of their most intense and dangerous operations including the Arctic Convoys and the Battle of North Cape.

By the spring of 1944 Germany had been dominant in western Europe for four years. After defeat in France in 1940 Britain had been too weak to intervene in Europe. In 1942 and 1943 Anglo-American forces concentrated on offensives in North Africa and the Mediterranean, which ruled out a return to northern Europe

During 1944 and 1945 the Allies produced a feature length film, The True Glory, as a permanent visual record of the campaign in Europe. The film covers all the major engagements from D-Day to the fall of Berlin.

The ten major players in the advancement of D-Day

Discover IWM's fascinating collection of photography showing the Allies preparing for D-Day.