War Memorial Sovet

Opposite the church and cemetery of Sovet is the war memorial.
On the left and right of the wall there is a plaque with the names of the prisoners of war.
At the back there are memorial plaques for the fifteen residents of Sovet who were shot dead by the Germans on September 4, 1944. Two maquisards also lost their lives.

It was September 4, 1944, the German army withdrew.
A group of maquisards from the Independence Front set out from Sovet to secure the bridge of Yvoir. They stopped at the Salazine farm where they shot dead two German soldiers traveling with a cart. They were discovered and returned to Sovet.
Early in the afternoon, members of this front, less trained and less disciplined than the Secret Army, pushed the mayor's broken car onto the road.
They came across an enemy light armored vehicle that was on reconnaissance.
In response, as incredible as it was, they fired a gun at this armored vehicle.
The vehicle was able to continue to Spontin where most of the enemy troops were stationed. They returned with a dozen caterpillars. The German reprisals were terrible. They set fire to sheds and houses in the village.
The Germans, returning to their base in Spontin, found two of their wounded.
Their anger grew. German SS men came from Thynes, gathered residents of the village and shot dead about fifteen civilians.
Some residents escaped the shooting, mainly in the courtyard of a farm in Basse Sovet that had already been burned the day before.
On September 7, a final German attack took place on the Château d'Onthaine where the survivors were welcomed.
The US Army arrived from Thynes shortly afterwards.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck