In Tribute...

Camera App: QuickPix

Additional Apps used:

SimplyHDR - to bring out the details a little more

KingCamera - for the gray metal frame.

PS Express - for the black frame

A+Signature - for the copyright watermark

Last Sunday's biking tour brought me to the little town of La Roche in the Belgian Ardennes, a place very popular among bikers who mostly come over from the Netherlands, from Germany and Luxembourg, and of course from everywhere in Belgium to enjoy riding in a beautiful region with many turns and nice little towns and villages. But more than 65 years ago, in the bad winter of 1945, the whole region had been the stage for one of the fiercest battles in the whole WWII conflict - the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, abandoned or knocked down tanks of both sides, artillery guns and pieces of wreckage had been put on display to remember the events. In La Roche, at the entrance to the little museum, one can see a piece of wreckage from a US Sherman tank, with this plaque attached to it. With no words but the words on the plaque, the look of the piece of wreckage tells all about the fighting that been going on in the region. From the broken edges of this huge piece of heavy metal one can tell that the Sherman tank this part belonged to had been exploded, most probably after a direct hit maybe fired from a German 88mm gun carried by Tiger and Panther tanks, instantly killing the whole crew of the Sherman. This piece was the front bow of the Sherman tank, with a driving wheel and part of the chain still attached to it. The surface of the steel is deeply scratched by many impacts from various caliber weapons, proving that the Sherman tank must have been in the middle of a very fierce fight before it got hit by an unknown German gun. Seeing such quiet witnesses of the tragedy of war always moves my heart deeply, so I made some photos of it - to remember.