Memorial Airmen Albert Soete and Guy De Briey

Monument commemorating the pilot Albert Soete and observer Guy de Briey, shot on May 15, 1940.

On May 15, 1940, pilot Albert Soete and observer Count Guy de Briey take off from Aalter to explore the situation of the advancing German troops along the Tienen - Leuven runway. Their aircraft is a Fairrey Fox (Hispano) biplane. When they return from this mission above Holsbeek, they see a group of German infantry with tanks marching towards the KW-line. Without hesitation, they repeatedly bombarded the German troops. But the Germans react quickly, put their machine guns in battery and fire on the plane. In the village of Holsbeek, nervous German soldiers enter the houses, shouting that every resident must go to the church. The villagers fear the worst and when the German soldiers ring the death bells, the insane fear is almost palpable.

Suddenly, flames burst from the sail of the airplane wings. Soete and de Briey keep firing, but when an enemy bullet hits the pilot, the plane starts its last dive. De Briey tries to save himself with his parachute, but the height is too low and he falls to pieces. The plane crashes into the field on the castle avenue.

The detained civilians are released without further ado. The Germans buried the airmen in the field where they had crashed. On their grave a hastily fabricated cross is placed on which the words: "Hier ruhen zwei unbekannte Flieger".

The monument was already erected in 1942, during the war.

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Source

• Text: Jan Rymenams
• Photos: Jan Rymenams
• Bron: Liboton, J. Holsbeek, 40 jaar na 40, feiten en belevenissen, 1980, pp. 16-19