A number of activities are being held tomorrow and over the coming weeks in various towns in Normandy and elsewhere to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the acts of heroism of the Allied invaders and the French resistance fighters during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

The battle marked the largest airborne and seaborne invasion to date, with over 150,000 men landed on the first day, including one Canadian, two British and two American beachheads.

At the time, the Maltese were enjoying a relatively peaceful time as air raids on the island had practically ceased, following the invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943.

But not all Maltese nationals were so lucky. A Maltese soldier by the name of John Galea, of Valletta, who had emigrated to Britain in the mid-1930s, was one of the first Allied troops to hit the beaches as a member of the Canadian Division.

He was in the tank corps and survived to tell the tale, his Maltese nephew recounted to The Times.

On his frequent visits to Malta, he was fond of relating his story to his interested Maltese relatives, describing in detail what it was like to be on the landing craft on that "grey, blustery, June morning" 60 years ago.

He is now survived by a daughter and two grandchildren, who live in the Midlands.

Charles Baldacchino, today 83 years old, also participated in the invasion, among many other battles, one of his five children said.

Mr Baldacchino survived D-Day but, 60 years later, almost to date, he was hospitalised, having suffered a stroke. Unfortunately, due to his ill-health, he was unable to relate his story, which he used to "love to tell" to his children. They remember snippets of exciting adventures on battleships in rough seas and other episodes of wartime suffering.

Mr Baldacchino began his naval career aged 14 and spent time in Greece and India. "He always wore his rosary beads without fail," his family recounted, highlighting the fact that his religious devotion got him through the war.

D-Day and the ensuing back-up operation - in which over a million men were landed on the coast of Normandy - was a turning point in the war and was followed by the liberation of Paris and most of France after the July breakthrough.

During the night preceding the invasion, airborne paratroops were dropped from hundreds of planes on either side of the landing grounds to protect the flanks of these beachheads. The drops were made up of two American and one British airborne divisions - the first Allied troops to land in France hours before the main seaborne force hit the beaches at dawn.

The news of the landings was flashed on the radio waves across the world at breakfast time on June 6.

The landings ran smoothly on some of the beaches, but at "Omaha" Beach, American GIs were pinned down a few metres from the shoreline for a whole morning and the best part of the afternoon and suffered heavy casualties. It was only later on in the day that they managed to break through the seawall and barbed wire defences and push inland.

The Allied forces were contained around Caen for six weeks and it was only in the latter half of July that the Americans on the western flank managed to break through and overwhelm the stiff German resistance, which had made progress difficult.

The overall commander of operation "Overlord" - the code name for the invasion - was General Dwight Eisenhower and the field commander was field marshal Viscount Bernard Montgomery, both of whom had spearheaded the invasion of Sicily from the underground headquarters in Lascaris, Valletta, 11 months before.

What they said about D-Day

Seventeen heads of state and government will attend ceremonies in northern France tomorrow marking the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings by the Allied forces on June 6, 1944.

Following are quotes about the landings by leading figures of World War Two.

¤ "You are about to embark on the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of liberty-loving people everywhere will march with you."

General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, in an address to troops.

¤ "After much fighting, furore and pain, the decisive shock has come, the hoped-for shock. Of course, it is the Battle of France and it is the Battle of the French!"

General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French Forces in exile and France's future leader, in a radio broadcast.

¤ "Almighty God. Our sons, pride of our nations, this day have set upon a mighty endeavour. A struggle to preserve our republic, our religion and our civilisation and to set free a suffering humanity. They will be sore tried by night and by day without rest until the victory is won. Some will never return. Embrace these Father and receive them, the heroic servants, into Thy Kingdom."

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a prayer broadcast by radio.

¤ "My dear friend, this is much the greatest thing we have ever attempted."

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a cable to Mr Roosevelt before the start of the operation.

¤ "The news couldn't be better. As long as they were in Britain we couldn't get at them. Now we have them where we can destroy them."

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's reaction when informed that the D-Day landings had begun.

¤ "If we do not succeed in our mission to close the seas to the Allies, or in the first 48 hours to throw them back, their invasion will be successful... In the absence of strategic reserves and due to the total inadequacy of our navy and of our air force, we will have lost the war."

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of German Army Group B on the Normandy coast, after the start of the landings.