Belgian wargrave Gofontaine

The cemetery in Gofontaine contains the grave of:

FAGNOUL André, age 18, policeman, shot by the German army on January 6, 1945, at Wibrin (Houfalize).

Fagnoul worked for the police in Sankt-Vith. He was a friend of Edgard HENNES, who also worked for the police and was the son of police commissioner Luciën HENNES.

During the Battle of the Bulge, when the German army advanced towards Sankt-Vith, the three men fled towards La-Roche-en-Ardenne. They thought they would be safe there because they did not expect the German army to advance that far.

However, La Roche-en-Ardenne was recaptured on December 23, 1944, by the 116th Panzer Division ‘Windhund-Division’, after having been liberated by the American army on September 10, 1944. La Roche was kept under constant fire by the American army. The bombing continued until early January, when the German army began to withdraw from La Roche around January 5, 1945.

On January 4, 1945, the German army conducted a large-scale identity check on the civilians present in La Roche. During this operation, André FAGNOUL, Luciën, and Edgar HENNES were arrested on suspicion of being members of the resistance. They were interrogated by French-speaking SS officers. The three men were later shot in the back of the head at this location in Wibrin.

The body of Luciën HENNES was found by American soldiers on January 14. The bodies of André FAGNOUL and Edgar HENNES were not found until February 6, 1945. Edgar and Luciën were finally buried in the cemetery of Sankt-Vith on August 29, 1948.

André Fagnoul was reburied in Gofontaine.

After the war, the execution of the three men was investigated. A Sonderkommando of the Security Service (SD) attached to the 2nd Panzer Division. This division advanced south of Houfalize via Noville during the offensive.

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

Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski
• www.ardennebelge.be/pierre-commemorative-dedies-a-des-resistants-houffalize