Road trip around the Ardennes battlefield

Hotton village - Start of the battlefield tour

www.geoparkfamenneardenne.be

School of fishes into the river

Antique watermill

The mill is dated at 1729

Memorial made of the turret of a M4 Firefly 17 pounder tank

Interesting point, the patch on the left side of the turret as you look and the shell damage on the ring of the turret indicating that the tank may have been disabled. Other ricochet marks visible

Chateau along the way to the main battlefield

This ample semi-enclosed quadrilateral was, under the Old Regime, the seat of the lordship of Fisenne. It was erected in limestone rubble in the first half of the 17th century then remodeled in the 19th century and again in 1939. It is to Jean de Fisenne († 1607) and Anne d'Ochain († 1625) that we owe reconstruction, starting from a medieval dungeon. The property passed in 1624 to Nicolas de Neuforge, Lord of Aigremont, following his marriage to Anne de Fisenne. The old keep, of five levels on cellars, is located in the axis of the entrance. It crushes all of its mass and is protected by an imposing saddleback of slates. The old dwelling, grafted in the 17th century onto the keep, has a circular tower with three levels at the back topped by an octagonal bell-shaped roof. The west wing houses, on the right, a wide barn served by lowered gates and, on the left, stables under the hayloft. At the northwest corner, a circular watchtower pierced with arquebusiers recalls the defensive function of yesteryear. A similar volume is opposite. The eastern wing also has a watchtower of the same construction. Located at the corner, on the street side, it is protected by a hexagonal arrow of slates. The various bodies of buildings are arranged on either side of a central courtyard partially enclosed by low walls. Classification as a monument (walls and roofs of large and small towers and watchtowers) on October 25, 1977 Classification as a monument and site and establishment of a protection zone (all buildings) on August 19, 1998

Church of the chateau

Opposite the castle-farm, in the center of a walled cemetery open to a gate framed by two pillars with pear-shaped ends, is the chapel of Saint-Remi. The sanctuary, which looks like a church, does not bear the title because it has never been the seat of a parish. It used to serve as a castle chapel. It was rebuilt in limestone rubble in 1713, as indicated by the chronogram located on the facade. Accentuated on the facade by a tower in hors-oeuvre, the nave of four bays is closed, to the north, by a three-sided apse. It is lit by semicircular windows on pillars with stone tails. The building is accessed through an axial portal surmounted by a small arched niche which houses a statue of the holder. Above, there is a stone stamped with the arms of the builders of the chapel, Lord Antoine-Georges de Fisenne († 1719) and his wife Louise de Voes. The building is protected by a slate core roof. The tower ends with a bell-shaped slate roof topped with a weather vane. Inside, the furniture is contemporary with the chapel. The altars, the pulpit and the confessional come from Beffe. In the choir, there are several beautiful funerary slabs of local lords dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, including those of the builders.

Into the trou du lupe

The German forces (2nd Panzer) were making their way to Erezee but were stopped by US forces on the way. Afterwards the US forces cleared Volksgrenadier that were positioned South West of Grandmenel into these forests in between the hilly ground and pushed back from the river in between the ravine

Walking in the forest

Wild boar shedding hair

Foxholes with clear line of fire on the main road

Bomb craters possibly from artillery shelling

The foxhole is interesting the way one would ambush an armoured column. Hot the front and the rear vehicle

Inside Grandmenil at the Pz V monument

Remainings of Pak75 German antitank

The area where Task Force Hogan was destroyed

Tank destroyer at Le Roche en Ardennen which was a major battle ground

M4 Sherman 76 at Le Roche en Ardennen

The tank has received 3 direct hits killing the crew

The HQ of US 2nd armour at Humain

The castle got destroyed in Christmas 1944 on the path to the German advance

The farm and Castle of Aye