ABSTRACT
Since the emergence of preventive archaeology in France at the end of the 1980s, Normandy’s coastline and soil have yielded up many remains of the battle that took place from 6 June to the end of August 1944 between the Allies and the Occupation forces of the Third Reich. The archaeological community and public authorities only realized the importance of recording surviving Second World War remains in the first decade of this century; stimulated in large part by the recording of First World War remains in northern and eastern France. The increase in archaeological research into the sites and remains of the Battle of Normandy, and particularly the Atlantic Wall, has stimulated much public interest. D-Day sites are visited by increasing numbers of tourists, and information centres provide space for archaeological information that completes, slightly modifies, or enriches the historical accounts.
