Abandoned War Memorial on the Polish Border

The grounds and design of the memorial are impressive. With the Neisse below and behind the structure and the tank positioned in an uphill attitude and surrounded by an angled wall growing higher the further it gets from the tank, it gives the impression that the tank is emerging from the river and thrusting straight into Germany and on to victory.

Now the memorial grounds are becoming overgrown with brush and the trees are beginning to obscure the old Soviet tank. Weeds and grass are growing up through the flagstones.

This area of East Germany is very sparsely populated. I traveled right along the German-Polish border from Zittau to Bad Moskau. It took about four hours to make the trip. The road from Zittau to Görlitz was two laned but still rural and very quiet. The road from Görlitz on to Bad Moskau was one laned and with very little traffic and hardly any signs of life between towns.

The landscape along the road varied. Much of it was cultivated. The fields were covered with a crop that had tiny yellow flowers on it so everything was yellow for as far as you could see. But there was also a lot of forest. You could also drive for half an hour through a seemingly endless pine forest without meeting another car or seeing anyone else or any houses. It was strange how empty this area was.

There was also some stripmining for coal in this area and accros the river in Poland. The area that had been mined was barren and looked like a huge construction site.

Old Soviet War Memorial along the German-Polish Border
Its inscription reads in Russian, German, and Polish:
Historical Marker of the struggle for our liberation by the Soviet and Polish Armies in March 1945

Another shot of the old memorial.

German Border Marker on the German-Polish Border

The outskirts of a small town on the German-Polish border

Yellow fields on the German-Polish border

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