(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; dozens of abandoned tanks stand in a clearing)
Urban explorer and photographer Maxime Cotte (see Facebook) has documented a variety of impressive military vehicle graveyards, but this cache of abandoned tanks parked side by side in the long grass is arguably one of the most surreal.
(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; corroding battle vehicles in the tank graveyard)
Writing on his Facebook page, Maxime described the adrenaline rush of discovering the tank cemetery, which contained dozens of corroding armoured vehicles understood to have been manufactured during the 1970s and 1980s.
Related – 10 Mighty Tank Graveyards & Abandoned Battle Vehicles of the World
(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; a cemetery of rusting fighting machines)
“I can say without hesitation that this was one of the most beautiful explorations that I had the chance to do,” he said.
(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; the armoured vehicles are parked somewhere in Europe)
The tank graveyard, its European location otherwise undisclosed, contains a variety of rusting hardware from heavy tanks and armoured personnel carriers to lighter fighting vehicles.
(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; covered barrels suggest vehicles may be stored)
In an eerie scene that resembles the aftermath of a long-forgotten conflict, some appear to be in reasonable condition while others are more corroded and weed-strewn. Many vehicles stand in an open field amid a wide clearing, while others have been utterly consumed by foliage, their mighty guns tangled by trees and branches that have been allowed to grow wild.
(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; withdrawn fighting vehicles by the railway line)
Elsewhere on the site, a diesel railway locomotives stands on the overgrown track of a seemingly-defunct siding, likely built decades ago to service the facility. Other abandoned tanks, meanwhile, line the edge of the branch line.
(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; an abandoned tank up close)
Whether the facility was once a maintenance depot for military fighting vehicles, or indeed whether the vehicles stand silently in anticipation of scrapping, we’re unsure. But there’s no doubt that the corroding collection of obsolete armoured machines represents one of the world’s most impressive tank cemeteries.
(Image: Maxime Cotte – website: MC Photographie; rows of abandoned armoured vehicles)
Discover more of Maxime Cotte’s work on Facebook.
Related – 10 Tank Cemeteries & Wrecked Fighting Vehicles of Europe, Asia & the Middle East
The post This Massive Tank Graveyard Haunts a Clearing Somewhere in Europe appeared first on Urban Ghosts.