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More than 60 years after the end of WW-II you can see everywhere in northern Luxembourg and eastern Belgium a lot of remains of this time.
In Ettelbruck/Lux aka "Pattontown" i visited the Patton-Memorial-Park
Next to the statue of Gen.Patton you can see one of his Shermans
20 miles north of Ettelbruck in Heinerscheid are 2 anti-tank guns, side by side next to the church. It are 1 american and 1 german canon.
Memorial plaque between the 2 canons
5 miles west of Heiderscheid a memorial stone has been erected.
It says: On this place, on christmas eve 1944 this people have been brutally executed by the SS. ( Followed by the names and homes of the victims)
Close to the belgian border another canon, this time an US-155mm howitzer
Only a few miles away in Wiltz. A Sherman of Gen-Pattons 3rd Army
In the middle of Bastogne (Belgium), one of the well known cities of the Battle of the bulge, a Sherman M4 is preserved on the "Place McAuliffe"
Just outside of Bastogne is the biggest WW-II museum and Memorial in Belgium, the Bastogne Historical Center" and the " Mardasson"
The Mardasson-memorial has the same shape as the stars on the american flag and is some 20 meters high. On the top you can see the names of every state from where a fallen G.I. came .
Inside the museum:
American pilots
German pilote
General of the german tank-troops, Gen. Hasso von Manteuffel
A picture of the Generals Bradley and Patton, taken on may 2nd 1945 in the ruins of Bastogne
A part of an B-17 bomber, shoot down near Bastogne
2 propeller blades and a german fueltank
A german fuel tank, the bilingual inscription says: Dont touch, call the next airfield and we give 10 Reichsmark to you.
US-tank outside the museum
On the way back to Luxembourg a short stop in Houffalize ( Belgium)
Also in Houffalize a german Panther IV
Near the luxemburgish town of Clervaux a wreck of an RAF plane is lying in the wood.
The Hudson A-29A ser. 42-47359 was given to the RAF as Hudson IIIA FK803.
In the night of march 21th 1944 it came back from an aborted missin in Germany and was shoot down by an US P-61 pilote. He thought to shot on an german Dornier DO-217, a shape twin of the Hudson.
6 of the 7 people onboard were killed.
Lt. J.Morel from Brussels, 20 years old belgian resistance
Lt. L.DeWinter, Ottignies , 20 years old belgian resistance
Lt. G.Corbisier,Antwerp 21 years old belgian resistance
F/O H.S.Johnson,28 years from Seaburn
F/O F.H.Thompson,24 years from Bedford
F/O R.F.Escreet 19 years old from Withernsea
The following pics are showing the plane in the wood of Clervaux, taken april 2004. In 2003 the mayor of Clervaux decided to put the wreck behind a fence because some "collectors" have stolen parts of the plane.
The graves of the crew and the resistance members
The crash site and the graves.
The last station of my tour were the 2 huge cemeteries in Sandweiler next to Luxembourg airport.
On the german cemetery are over 12000 soldiers, 4900 of them burried under the cross in the middle of the site.
Only a few hundred meters away, on the other side of the street, the US cemetery with 5089 burrials.
The side of the chapel with inscription.
The "Wall of the missing soldiers"
A wall showing the operations during WW-II in Europe
"Operation Overlord", the D-day june 6th 1044
And with the grave of Gen.George S.Patten i close this article.
Ray Binder
