Yesterday, heads of state including Queen Elizabeth II, President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the official 70th anniversary of the invasion. The event took place in the British sector at the Channel port of Ouistreham on Sword Beach.

Meticulously planned for three years and miraculously kept an extremely strict secret, the storming of the Normandy beaches by thousands of Allied troops to take the Nazis by surprise and break up the German defensive line is a compelling story that warrants repeated retelling.

Today’s infographic, from Engineering & Technology Magazine, shows the key events of D-Day, with a detailed review of the action at each of the beaches. Those of us living today owe an eternal debt of gratitude to those who made the ultimate sacrifice on that day.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view. There’s a heck of a lot of detail in this graphic, so it’s well worth opening up to full size.