How did Robert Capa survive the Normandy?

The orders came to Life war photographer Robert Capa in London from the United States Army in the last days of May of 1944: You are not to leave your flat for more than an hour at a ... The need for bella figura had been at his core since his childhood in Budapest, where appearances and charm were means to survive. read more

Capa survived because the odds were in his favor. 43,500 soldiers landed in Omaha Beach, where he took his photographs. 3,000 fell dead or wounded. So, any given soldier had 93% possibility of surviving the landing and the battle. read more

The presence of Robert Capa with an infantry division was considered a talisman of luck. On June 5, 1944, Capa roamed the transfer ship U.S.S. Henrico with his Contax, aware that the London bureau of Life was already frantically waiting for his film. read more

The story behind Robert Capa’s iconic shot of a soldier in the surf at Normandy, one of the most celebrated pictures of the Second World War, is nearly as complex as it is incredible. In 1944, Capa, later a co-founder of the photography collective Magnum, was assigned to cover the Allied invasion of Normandy by LIFE picture editor John G. Morris. read more