Memorial August 23, 1914 Spontin

Near the monument there is a memorial stone with an information board about August 23, 1914.
"A tragic day for Spontin

The village of Spontin, which had 663 inhabitants, was burned down on August 23, 1914, causing 46 civilian casualties.
25 inhabitants, including the mayor and the pastor, were murdered in cold blood in the village, 2 others in Dinant,
3 of them died of suffocation in their basement, including two little girls aged 11 and 8,
2 of them were brutally slaughtered with bayonets.
In Dorinne, 15 were shot at random, 9 on August 23 and 6 more the next day. 19 women were widowed and were in charge of 39 orphans.
Of the 161 houses, 133 were burned
The church and town hall were completely destroyed.

These war crimes were committed by Saxon regiments, under the pretext that the civilian population had fired on the German army as 'franc-tireurs'.
Let us remember. That this cannot happen again, neither here nor elsewhere."

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck