Schroeder to Honor War Dead in Normandy

Germany's chancellor says "the postwar era is undeniably over."

Gerhard Schroeder (search) has accepted an invitation to commemorate D-Day's 60th anniversary.

Schroeder is the first German leader to be invited to commemorate the Allied invasion of occupied France.

The chancellor was criticized by some German politicians for supposedly planning to ignore German war dead during the visit. But Schroeder says he will lay a wreath at the grave of a German unknown soldier in France after joining President Bush and other world leaders on a Normandy (search) beach Sunday.

More than 300 Germans are buried along with about 22-hundred British and other Commonwealth troops at Ranville.