Google Doodle honouring Japanese Go player replaced on D-Day anniversary

The internet giant claimed it had always planned to mark D-Day and would not explain the change

Google Doodle celebrates the 185th birthday of professional Go player Honinbo Shusaku

A Google Doodle celebrating the birthday of a Japanese board game player has been replaced on the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

An image of Go player Honinbo Shusaku, who would have been 185, appeared globally on the search engine’s home page on Thursday evening.

But by Friday morning it had disappeared and been replaced by a link “Remembering D-Day” on the site in the UK, US and France.

The link takes visitors to Google’s Cultural Institute site, where there is a page dedicated to D-Day with more than 400 records, including top secret military reports and photos from Normandy.

Google admitted that the Japanese doodle had gone on line by mistake.

Peter Barron, the director of communications, said: "We always intended to highlight a new exhibition of imagery and archive material commemorating D-Day on our home page.

"Unfortunately a technical error crept in and for a short period this morning an international doodle also appeared. We're sorry for the mistake, and we're proud to honour those who took part in D-Day."

D-Day, on 6 June 1944, is being marked around the world. More than 10,000 people died in the invasion, which is seen as an important turning point for the Allies in the Second World War.

Despite progress into northern France, the conflict did not end until September the next year

The global warfare would continue until September 1945 when the Japanese surrendered following the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan’s occupation of China, war crimes and notorious prisoner of war camps have created a troubled legacy of the Second World War in the country.