Monument 'The heroes of Banel'

In 1958 a memorial monument was erected on the French-Belgian border, dedicated to "To the heroes of Banel and the Franco-Belgian resistance 1940-1944.

Banel's resistance movement was founded in the spring of 1942 by the Belgian journalist and Walloon activist Adelin Husson, when he had to go into hiding after the arrest of his wife, daughter and son by the German police.
He then settled in the Banel area in French territory, commune of Matton-et-Clémency (Ardennes), near Chassepierre (Belgium), his native village. While maintaining contact with the members of his network in Liège and Arlon, Adelin, known in the resistance as "Georges", comes into contact with groups of Belgian and French resistance fighters. He also became the head of an intelligence and action line stretching from the provinces of Liège and Luxembourg to the French Ardennes and Lorraine. Over time, he added help to refractories and allied airmen. The action requires the purchase of weapons and ammunition. The German police infiltrate a traitor in the network: he promises the Banel Maquis the delivery of a weapons depot so that he can equip 2,500 men. The appointment is made in the early morning of June 18, 1944. But that day the forests of Banel and Buchy are surrounded and raked by the German army. The resistance fighters are captured, some are slaughtered. Adelin Husson and his son Jules, who escaped from the Citadel of Huy (Belgium) in July 1942, are shot dead. Adelin Husson's body will never be found.

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Source

• Text: Dick de Bruijne, Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Carmen Korsten (1, 2), Marie-Christine Vinck (3)