Information Board 14-18 Sambre Rouge - Cemeteries and Monuments

Information board next to the Memorial Capitaine Henri Thomire

During the occupation, the German authorities set up a military cemetery of which only the surrounding wall and urn decorating the entrance gate remain. The corpses of the soldiers who died during the fighting in Lobbes were buried in this cemetery. Before it opened, the bodies had been stored in temporary mass graves.

The current military cemetery contains the remains of 226 French soldiers. In addition, it boasts a magnificent beacon monument symbolizing the great esteem in which France’s soldiers are held. Many of the soldiers buried here came from the regions around Bordeaux, Paris, Brittany and Vendée. In parallel, a few families built memorials for their brothers, sons, and/or husbands fallen in combat. On 17 June 1920, Eugène Thomire bought a 75 square metre plot from Fernand Copée to build this monument, which still stands, in memory of his brother, who was killed on the battlefield at Lobbes.

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