Remembrance Clock Gustave Delperdange

Clock in memory of Gustave Delperdange who was executed on February 28, 1944 in Breendonk, because he managed to steal explosives and to pass them through. The clock is in front of the church "Eglise Saint Pierre" next to the altar in Bastogne / Bastogne. Since Christmas Eve 1984, 3 bells have been hanging in the tower in memory of the destruction of Bastogne in 44/45. Donated by the veterans from Bastogne, the Falmschirmjager and the 101st airborne.

Gustave Delperdange was born in Warnach on October 1, 1911. During the war, he operated the "Les Roches" quarry in Bastogne / Bastogne, and so he owned loads of dynamite for professional purposes. Despite strict controls on his company, he managed to regularly deliver explosives to the resistance fighters of Bastogne / Bastogne, who sent them on to Brussels.
In July 1943 he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Fort Breendonk, where he was forced to perform forced labor for more than six months.

On February 24, 1944, an attack with explosives was carried out against a German sentry post, resulting in considerable material damage. In reprisal twenty prisoners were executed in the camp of Breendonk on February 28, 1944. One of them was Gustave Delperdange.
Gustave Delperdange was first buried at the National Shooting Range (Tir National) in Brussels. Some years later, his body was transferred to the Bastogne / Bastogne cemetery.

To honor his name, a street was named after him after the war: Rue Gustave Delperdange with the caption on the street sign: Prisonnier politique-Né le 1/10/1911. Fusillé au Camp de Breendonck le 28/2/1944. [/ I]
His name is also mentioned on the monument of the war heroes in Bastogne / Bastogne.

There is also a mention of his name in the Memorial Hall of Fort Breendonk and his name is mentioned on the Memorial Plate in Fort Breendonk.

On the website: www.edbmb.net/genealogy/htm/rueNL.htm you can read an interview with Gustave Delperdange's son. Son Roland owns the Au pays d’Ardenne museum at 20 Rue de Neufchâteau in Bastogne, where some items from the Second World War are on display
The information comes from the above website.

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Source

• Text: Cor Muilwijk
• Photos: Lennard Bolijn (1, 3), Cor Muilwijk (2)