Belgian War Graves Spontin

The Spontin cemetery contains the graves of: Virginie MINE – Virginie DEWEZ –
Laure, Gabriëlle, Edmond, Jules PONCIN - Hubert GENON – François, Firmin DENIS – Auguste GOLINVAUX – Martin SCAILLET – Jules DEMASY.
They are all civilians, killed on August 23, 1914.

On August 23, 1914, nineteen days after the attack, German soldiers in Spontin arrested the mayor and the local priest, tied them together with ropes and killed them with bayonets. About sixty civilians were taken hostage. These hostages had to advance to Dorinne, a nearby village. A large number of them were shot before reaching this village. A total of 47 civilians were killed, including 8 women.
The village of Spontin was plundered and burned, only 28 houses (out of 161) were left standing after the German soldiers left.

The cemetery also contains the grave of Hubert CHARLES, maquisard, who died in the battle of Jannée on August 27, 1944.
140 resistance fighters who had been harassing enemy troops since June took refuge in the Bois de l'Abîme. They knew a terrible battle was coming.
On August 27, the unequal battle in the forest began. Opposite Commander Bodart's 140 maquisards stood 2,500 Nazis, soldiers of the Wehrmacht and the Feldgendarmerie, helped by Walloon legionnaires and Flemish SS men. The men held out for hours.
From 5 p.m. until late at night, the resistance fighters, taking advantage of the fog, managed to leave the forest in small groups. The retreat was painful for the wounded, including commander Bodart.
In total, Germany left 187 men on the battlefield. On the resistance side, the battle in Jannée cost the lives of five men, six were wounded and four were missing.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck