LONDON (AFP) - Britain's Royal Mail apologised on Friday (Dec 28) over a commemorative stamp design for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France next year that instead showed US troops landing in what is now Indonesia.

The design was part of a series of special issues showcasing the "Best of British" and was to be released in time for the anniversary of the Allied landings on June 6, 1944.

The image, which was previewed on Thursday, was labelled "D-Day Allied soldiers and medics wade ashore".

"We would like to offer our sincere apologies that our preview release for our 2019 Special Stamp programme included a stamp design which had been incorrectly associated with the D-Day landings," a Royal Mail spokesman said.

The image selected instead showed US troops disembarking in what was then Dutch New Guinea in May 1944.

Twitter users were quick to point out the mistake.

"Please correct this or you will look like idiots," Paul Woodadge, a D-Day historian, wrote to Royal Mail.