Monument des fusillés de Tavannes Fleury-devant-Douaumont

Memorial dedicated to 16 citizens from Verdun who were executed on this location by the Gestapo in 1944. These 16 citizens (among them one high-ranking French WWI veteran) where accused for suspected resistance activities. In December 1944 (after the liberation of Verdun) locals discovered the mutilated bodies.

Update July 2025:
The Monument commemorates the murder of 15 French resistance fighters, one Belgian, and one unknown. These courageous men were killed at dawn on August 31, 1944.

This monument stands in front of the mass grave where the mutilated bodies of 16 resistance fighters were found on December 22, 1944, massacred by the Gestapo, near the northern entrance to the Tavannes Tunnel. Among these bodies were fifteen Frenchmen, including one unknown, and one Belgian. A plaque bears the names of these courageous men who died as heroes in the fight against the Germans.

The inscription on the memorial plaque reads: "WILL BE MADE OR FOUND IN DECEMBER 1944 THE MULTIPLE BODIES OF 16 PATRIOTS RESISTANTS MASSACRED BY ALL." This translates to: "MASS GRAVE WHERE IN DECEMBER 1944 THE MURDERED BODIES OF 16 RESISTANCE FIGHTERS WHO WERE SLAUGHT BY THE GERMANS WERE FOUND."

The plaque lists fifteen French and one Belgian resistance fighter who "fell as heroes."
The names of the victims, including one unknown, are listed, along with their place of origin or specific role, such as François de Kinder, a Belgian representative of the Belgian government in London.

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Source

• Text: Kaj Metz + Adri Kramer
• Photos: Kaj Metz (1), Adri Kramer (2, 3, 4, 5)