TracesOfWar needs your help! Every euro, pound or dollar you contribute greatly supports the continuation of this website. Go to stiwot.nl and donate!

Chemins de Mémoire Gomery

Two aid stations were set up in Gomery, one in the farm of the widow Lambert, route de Latour, the other in the castle of the lord Baron de Gerlache, under the leadership of doctor Duteil of the 14th Hussars Regiment. Doctor Simonin, wounded in Ethe, was treated there before being taken to the Château de Prémorel in Bleid.
He gives a constructive account of the events in a book published in 1917, at a time when the German atrocities of 1914 were still central featured in international debates. His testimony agrees with that of the teacher Theodore Hizette and the vicar Baurent. Despite the protection of the Geneva Convention, German troops invade Gomery and burn the village. Shots were fired at the castle aid station, thirty-one houses were set on fire and the other aid station was destroyed by fire. All the wounded were killed, the French doctors and stretcher bearers were taken to the cemetery to be executed.
Today, historians know that this behaviour at the start of the war was due to the lack of control over the troops by the commanders, but mainly to the fact that the Germans had thought that there would be no resistance from the Belgian army.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

  • Text: Luc Van Waeyenberge
  • Photos: Luc Van Waeyenberge (1), Marie-Christine Vinck (2)

49.563753, 5.590663