A convoy of military vehicles followed a route taken by D-Day soldiers preparing to leave Dorset to take part in the Normandy Landings.

Seventy five years on from the huge military operation – cited as a turning point in the Second World War – re-enactors and veterans took part in a service before driving from Dorchester to Portland.

D-Day – Operation Overlord – began on June 6, 1944, and it saw Allied forces invade Nazi-occupied France. Many of the boats that carried soldiers to Normandy set off from Weymouth and Portland.

To mark the occasion a memorial service was held in the Borough Gardens, Dorchester before the military convoy set off to Castletown, Portland where another service was held.

Stephen George, curator of the D-Day Centre on Portland, explained that the route took by vehicles on Saturday was the one that the US 1st Army would have taken to get from the from Marshalling Area D7 in Dorchester to Embarkation Area D8 on Portland in preparation for Operation Overlord.

The vehicles that formed the convoy included a troop transporter and an ambulance.

The First Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment Living History Association also attended the event, where it displayed Second World War weapons and equipment, including a demonstration of a four-inch mortar.

Alwyn Bryant from the association highlighted the role that Dorset soldiers played in the Normandy landings.

They were among the first British soldiers to land in France on D-Day, and took their objectives on time.

The re-enactors rode down to Portland on the troop transporters.

At Portland, the ceremony included the sounding of the Last Post and a two minute silence to remember those who had died.

This journey is one of a number of events commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Dorset.

Last week, there were other memorial services to those who had fought and died in Operation Overlord, including ones on Portland and in Broadmayne.

The Keep Museum in Dorchester let visitors in for free on Saturday, where there was film about the 1st Dorsets on D-Day and a display of military equipment.

A new book was also launched, titled D-Day Spearhead Brigade: The Hampshires, Dorsets & Devons on 6th June 1944, which was written by Christopher Jary.

There was also a static vehicle display by the Jubilee Clock in Weymouth yesterday. Money raised at this display will go to the Veterans Hub.