D-Day Anniversary: The front pages reporting the invasion

Today is the 74th anniversary of D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history, which marked the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe.

The news broke in time to make the Inquirer's final editions for June 6, 1944, and the invasion was bannered across the front page. A War Extra followed, with more details.

Final City Edition

War Extra

The news of course dominated the front page of the June 7, 1944, edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Also on that front page was a report of some historical note: U.S. Army Air Corps heavy bombers had taken off from a base in the Soviet Union for the first time to attack Nazi positions in Romania.

Inside, on page nine, the reaction in the city from the day before was reported under the headline:

Liberty Bell Tapped,

D-Day News Spreads

It noted that Mayor Bernard Samuel was awakened from his sleep by the news. Shortly before 7 a.m., Samuel, his secretary and "a few" police officers went to Independence Hall. There, the mayor tapped the Liberty Bell a dozen times. "The tapping of the Bell was carried throughout the Nation over an NBC hookup, and to other parts of the world by short wave," the story said.