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The BBC's 70th anniversary coverage of the second world war Normandy invasion will include Radio 4 broadcasts of the corporation's original 1944 news reports, read by Sherlock star

Benedict Cumberbatch and Patrick Stewart. The new recordings of the original BBC radio bulletin scripts from June 1944, which for most British listeners provided the first news that the

long-awaited Allied offensive against Nazi-occupied mainland Europe had begun in earnest. The D-day news reports will be broadcast at the same time of day as their original transmission time

70 years ago, beginning with Cumberbatch's reading of the 8am bulletin during Radio 4's Today programme on Friday and continuing until 9pm on Sunday. Others will be broadcast

during later Radio 4 programmes including The World At One, PM, The World Tonight, Broadcasting House and The World This Weekend. The new recordings will also be available online on the

Radio 4 website, along with more than 200 pages of archive radio bulletin scripts from BBC Home Service D-day broadcasts being published for the first time. Many of the scripts are annotated

with subbing marks by the writers and newsreaders of the day. Gwyneth Williams, Radio 4 controller, described D-day as a "day of deep significance; a day that carries, in memory,

unimaginable burdens for a nation". Williams added: "Radio 4, in digital times, can open its treasure trove of a website and bring original radio scripts to life, recreating that

day in greater intensity and immediacy for a new generation." The first British and American airborne troops began landing in France shortly after midnight on D-day, with the main

assault on the Normandy beaches beginning at 6.30am. Such was the slower pace of the media in those days, and the need for journalists to abide by strict wartime censorship to avoid giving

vital information about military operations to the enemy, that it was several hours before the BBC first reported that the D-day invasion had begun. Official confirmation that the Normandy

invasion was underway came just after 9.30am on 6 June 1944 in a statement issued by general Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe. The news was first relayed to the

British public by the BBC in a special midday bulletin, read by John Snagge: "'D' Day has come. Early this morning the Allies began the assault on the north-western face of

Hitler's European Fortress." Earlier that day, the BBC's 8am bulletin led with a warning to civilians living near the coast in Nazi-occupied countries that "a new phase

in the Allied Air Offensive" had begun and quoted German reports that "Allied airborne troops have been landed" and naval forces were "engaged with Allied

landing-craft". The BBC broadcast its first "eye-witness report from above the battlefield of France" during its 1pm radio news, a recording sent back by an air-commodore

Helmore from a plane that had returned from its mission that morning to bomb a railway bridge. Helmore reported during the flight across the English Channel that it was busier "up here

than Piccadilly Circus" with the air "full of aircraft of all kinds going and coming", while down below "I've just seen a great flock of our invasion fleet".

The 1pm bulletin also carried reports from BBC correspondents including Frank Gillard, "with troops in the South of England", Robert Dunnett on an American ship, and Richard

Dimbleby – father of Question Time presenter David – reporting the night before from an English airfield as aircraft carrying paratroops took off for France. _ To contact the MediaGuardian

news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for

publication, please mark clearly "for publication"._