Memorial Saint-Quirin Church Houdremont

At the back of the Sint-Quirin church is a memorial for August 24, 1944, the day the church went up in flames.

It consists of a stone column with a cross at the top and on the stone: August 24, 1944.

On the left hang 5 nameplates of killed maquisards: Paul DION – Maurice DION – Albert LEROY – Theophyle NIZET – Henri MAQUAY
Below: "They set fire to the house of God"

Right: 5 names: Victor PETIT – Gerard PIERRET – Jean-Pierre PIERRET – Michel PIERRET – Joseph PONLOT
Below: "They killed the youth"

In August 1944, the maquisards conducted guerrilla operations against the retreating German armies. A group of the secret army (A.S.) was hidden in a forest near Houdremont.
On the morning of the 23rd a German convoy passed through the main road.
They were shot at by the A.S. Part of the convoy was immobilized and the occupants were killed or seriously injured
While waiting for a response from the Germans, some maquisards took up a position at the edge of the forest, to the right and left of the road. During the afternoon, the Kommando Alsthalter and the companies of the Kriegsmarine, as well as the Dinant Security Police, reinforced with elements of the Feldgendarmerie, arrived on the scene.
The Germans managed to surround the resistance fighters' positions. Some were able to escape, others were injured, killed or captured.
One of the respondents agreed to indicate the location of the maquisard camp.
He misled the Germans and when discovered the camp in question was empty. He paid for it with his life.
On the way to Houdremont, the German Kommando stopped some young people, shot dead or captured a few more men. They also forced a respondent to report a French camp of maquisards in the Nafraiture region

The next day, August 24, the Kommando Asthalter, the Sipo of Dinant, members of the S.D. from Charleville and the Feldgendarmerie of Dinant back to Houdremont to take revenge and attack the French camp.
The day's operations began with the destruction of the maquisard camp spotted the day before. Then, in retaliation, the Germans took hostage all the men of the village from 18 to 40 years old.
The group was under strict guard in a meadow just outside the village.
Some of them were released, others were imprisoned in Namur, and some were deported to Germany
Meanwhile, the Asthalter commando forced the rest of the population to evacuate.
The houses were looted and when the village was empty, the Germans blew up five farms and houses and set fire to the church.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck