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The scars of war: Stunning color images reveal how Europe was still littered with graves, rusting planes and sunken battleships two years after its liberation from the Nazis

A woman stands on Omaha Beach looking out at the rusted ship used in the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

During the assault, some 150,000 Allied troops stormed the French beach in order to grasp a foothold on Nazi-occupied France and begin their liberation of Europe.

Two men share a drink beside one of the Nazi battlements constructed along the beach in order to try and repel the Allied invasion.

Aware of the Allies intent to invade France, Hitler fortified the coast with guns and 50,000 troops placed in the control of general Erwin Rommel.

This stunning photograph, taken in 1947, shows a downed U.S. bomber lying in a field near a cow in Reims, France.

The bullet ridden shell of the aircraft offers a reminder of the fierce fighting to take place in France as the Allies launched their liberation of Europe.

A destroyed German Panzer tank lies next to a road in Belgium in 1947.

Hitler's feared Panzer divisions were a hallmark of Germany's rapid gains across Europe in the early stages of the war by using an innovative strategy known as blitzkrieg - which translates to 'lightning war'.

A man in Bastogne, Belgium, is fitted with discarded U.S. military clothing.

The city was the center of a brutal siege, launched as part of the German counter offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The siege lasted several days and saw at least 3,000 people killed.

Here a group of men work on one of the buildings damaged during the destructive siege.

The battle was part of a German offensive Hitler launched in a bid to reclaim Antwerp which came as the Americans had reached the border of Germany.

Two musicians playing the drums and an accordion entertain a crowd outside shops in Bastogne in 1947.

It was liberated by the U.S. Army in September 1944, but subjected to Hitler's counter attack a few months later.

A young girl lays flowers at the grave of a U.S. soldier in the village of Margraten in 1947.

The Dutch town is home to a vast U.S. cemetery which features more than 8,000 graves.

The city was liberated by the Americans during their drive towards Berlin.

Vehicles pass over a bridge in the city of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

This area saw heavy fighting in September 1944 as the Allies launched Operation Market Garden to prevent the Nazis from destroying the bridge - which was a vital road if they wanted to reach Arnhem with ease.

This photo taken in Nijmegen in 1947 shows much of the city still remained in ruins - though one building is dedicated to a Manhattan-style dance night.

The city was badly damaged in bombing raids because U.S. pilots thought they were bombing the German city of Kleve.

A group of women and children walk past the rubble of the city center.

The city's bridge was fiercely contested, and the Germans made numerous attempts to blow it up in a bid to slow the Allies' advance through Europe.

A makeshift German grave sits in the Hurtgen Forest near Aachen, decorated with soldiers' helmets. 

Aachen was the westernmost city of Germany and was heavily damaged during the U.S. advance, which saw a month worth of fighting before the German garrison surrendered.

A young guard sits with his weapon along the Siegfried Line in 1947. Originally built in the First World War, Hitler ordered its construction to be renewed after the Allies invaded France. It comprised a series of defensive structures stretching along the German border with the countries to its west.

Pictured is the garden of the Reich Chancellery, where the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were cremated after they killed themselves in Hitler's bunker to avoid capture at the end of the Second World War.

Soviet troops were only blocks away when they died.

Despite the devastation wrecked across Europe, and in particular Berlin, these two bullet hole-ridden landmarks remained in one piece. The city, which Hitler ordered to be defended down to the last man, woman or child, was soon divided between Allied and Soviet troops.