Hundreds of people, some in Second World War-era uniforms, arrived before dawn to stretch out across the now peaceful sands of Utah Beach, one of the five Allied landing zones on D-Day where troops waded into cold seas through hails of fire exactly 80 years ago. They watched as US Navy Seals re-enacted the landing of the 2nd Naval Beach Battalion alongside descendants of soldiers who landed on the beach on 6 June 1944. The Allied invasion of Normandy led to the defeat of the Nazis and the end of WW2. As dawn broke 80 years ago, Allied forces started bombing German coastal defences and shortly after that vessels began putting troops ashore on five codenamed beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.