The Normandy Landings: Braced for a fresh invasion: Julian Nundy reports on preparations for the influx of veterans and VIPs

THE shops and buses are already bedecked with flags and stickers proclaiming 'Welcome to Our Liberators'.

In the smallest snack-bars, bottles of Calvados, Normandy cider and wine from Bordeaux, a region known for its cosy collaboration with the German occupier, carry labels with images of men in khaki running up the beaches under skies criss-crossed by aeroplanes.

Modern-day men in khaki from the Territorial Army in Aldershot have been digging into the grass by the roadside above Arromanches, where the invasion forces' Mulberry harbour has been re-constituted, to build a last-minute memorial to the engineers who died during the landings.

The TA men will have gone home by the 50th anniversary - 'We're just the dogsbodies,' said one - but another 1,400 British troops will have arrived by then to set up the British element of the ceremonies planned for the day.

In the Calvados capital of Caen, a city which lost two-thirds of its buildings and much of its population in the ferocious artillery and air bombardments which followed the landings, officials are juggling with figures and probability.

With between 40,000 and 50,000 Second World War veterans aged from 70 to 80 expected - mainly from Britain, Canada and the United States - health services in the region are gearing up for an expected casualty rate ranging from sudden serious illness to death of 1 per 1,000.

A review of Normandy's weather over 50 years shows that it rains on 6 June in one year out of three. 'General Eisenhower had an advantage over us,' said Bertrand Gouley, of the Caen prefecture. 'If the weather was bad, he could delay the landings by 24 hours if he wanted - and he did. We don't have that luxury.

'What happens if there is a 100- kilometre gale that day? Tents will fly away and helicopters won't be able to take off.'

An official in Paris said the organisation of the commemoration, with 14 heads of state or government attending ceremonies at many sites, was comparable to 'organising a summit in the middle of the Olympic Games'.

The British delegation will include the Queen, Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales, Prince Andrew and John Major. At the Caen prefecture where the VIPs will have lunch in a wing built in 1811 during Napoleonic times, they will be provided with bedrooms and offices to rest or deal with urgent business at home.

This second invasion of Normandy has mobilised 10,000 police and gendarmes from outside the region and an additional 2,000 members of the emergency services, principally from the ambulance service run by the French fire brigade. It is costing the state an estimated pounds 6m.

While some of the expenditure will be on temporary structures erected for the ceremonies, other money has been put into road improvements or the construction of parking lots for the 1,000 buses hired for the occasion.

Most visitors are coming on organised trips but a good number, with no hotel reservations, are expected at the last minute. Many are thought to be likely to drive over from Britain.

With hotel rooms booked for miles around, the only accommodation left is in private homes. The Calvados authorities are printing 400,000 copies of a leaflet to be distributed at the Channel ports, airports and around the region explaining access problems. Visitors are advised to leave their cars at a designated car park and take the shuttles.

Military sources say that security measures to protect high-ranking officials and veterans include the deployment of extra anti-aircraft missiles. All flying will be banned over Normandy except for planned events, such as flypasts and paratroop drops.

In Britain, owners of small boats are being encouraged to follow the Britannia, the QEII, the Canberra, the USS George Washington and other ships bringing veterans and officials across the Channel. Officials in Caen say they expect about 3,000 small vessels, although the final number will be determined by the weather.

The most important visitors will be the veterans themselves, many returning for the last time. The local authorities aim to attach one secondary-school student with a knowledge of English to every group of 25 veterans. They have been trained and briefed by English teachers in Bayeux, Caen and Saint Lo.

The day's events will be long. At the main ceremony at Omaha Beach veterans' buses will start arriving at 10am for an event which ends at 4.30pm. The time before heads of state arrive at 2.30pm will be taken up with concerts of military music.

Each veteran will be issued with a lunch box, provided courtesy of the French state, enabling him to picnic on the spot. Mr Gouley said: 'It's the least we could do.'

(Photograph omitted)