Known as Signal or Liberation Monuments, there are a series of 10 memorials erected along the Normandy coastline at key points to commemorate the D-Day landings.
Inaugurated in 1950 they were designed and made Yves-Marie Froidevaux, chief architect of the National Historic Monuments, and are designed to look like the stern of a ship reaching French shores from the sea.
Each has a different text, celebrating and remembering the heroes who brought freedom to France. There 10 locations and texts are:

1. Utah Beach
The most westerly of the monuments. Located in the dunes at Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, and surrounded by military vehicles and a Sherman tank, this monument pays tribute to General Leclerc who landed at this spot on August 1, 1944, with his Second Armoured Division.
‘Le 6 Juin 1944 Debarquement a l’aube les armies allies. Ici aborda le General Leclerc commandant lat 2eme Div Blindee’
In English this roughly translates to: ‘On June 6, 1944 the Allied armies landed at dawn. Here landed General Leclerc, commander of the 2nd Armoured Division’.

2. Sainte Mere Eglise
The first town to be liberated, this monument can be found in the town square in front of the church with the dummy paratrooper. The text says: ‘5th-6th June 1944. The 82nd and 101st Div USA of paratroops liberate the district’.

3. Carentan
Located in front of the town hall in the hard-won, major town of Carentan, the monument pays tribute to the 101st Airborne Division.
‘Ici heroism des forces allies libere Europe. Le 12 Juin 1944 la 101 Division aeroportee ouvre la glorieuse route de la victoire’.

4. Isigny-sur-Mer
This beautiful port town (also famous for its cheese making) features a monument next to its church. Isigny was one of the key strategic locations between the link up of US forces landing at Utah and Omaha beach areas.
It reads: ‘Here on the 14th June 1944 General de Gaulle spoke to the French people freed by the Allied forces’.

5. Omaha Beach
Possibly the most photographed of all the liberation monuments, this stands proudly at the edge of the beach in front of the Les Braves sculpture at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
It honours all those who landed on ‘Bloody Omaha’.
‘The Allied Forces landing on this shore they call Omaha Beach liberate Europe – June 6 1944’.

6. Gold Beach
The famous fishing town of Port-en-Bessin, liberated by British commandos, features one of the 10 monuments at the end of its breakwater. Due to its location one which receives fewer visitors than many of the others. Port-en-Bessin was also the place where PLUTO (Pipeline under the ocean) fuel pipeline reached French soil from southern England and was used as a substitute for Ouistreham during filming of the movie The Longest Day.
It says: ‘Here in 1944 Europe was liberated by the heroism of the Allied Forces’.

7. Juno Beach
Located on the beach at Graye-sur-Mer - a few metres away from the Churchill AVRE 1 Charlie vehicle and Croix de Lorraine monument – this is where Canadian forces landed on D-Day.
It says: ‘Here on the 6th June 1944 Europe was liberated by the heroism of the Allied Forces’.

8. Juno Beach
This monument is located on the beach at Berniers--sur-Mer - a few metres away from Canada House, the first residence liberated by Canadian forces who landed on the beach here on D-Day.
It says: ‘Here on the 6th June 1944 Europe was liberated by the heroism of the Allied Forces’.

9. Sword Beach
Anyone travelling out of Ouistreham towards the Pegasus Bridge area will spot this monument on one of the roundabouts on the southern site of the port town. It pays tribute to the British and French commandos.
It says: ‘In memory of the 4th French-English commandos who died for the liberation of our territory June 6, 1944’.

10. Pegasus Bridge
Standing next to the field where British airborne forces landed in their gliders on the night of June 5, 1944, and next to the new bridge over the Caen Canal you can find the last and most easterly of the monuments.
It says: ‘6.VI.1944 – the banks of the Orne River first parts of France are liberated by the Allied Forces’.