#Monument

Cross to the resistance fighters Borremans and Etienne

The last days of the German occupation before the first liberation of the Belgian Ardennes did not spare the underground fighters. On 9 September 1944, the eve of the liberation, resistance fighters Nestor Borremans and Vital Etienne were shot without witnesses.

Nestor Borremans and Vital Etienne were two Maquis stationed at the Marcouray camp. Borremans, a native of the village of Soy, knew the wooded hills to the east of the river Ourthe inside out. He and his faithful comrade Vital Etienne had been given permission to stand guard on the road running along the western flank of the entrenched camp near the place known as “Cirou”.

It was at their lookout post that they were surprised by retreating German troops. Captured and taken to Devantave, the resistance fighters Borremans and Etienne were shot without witnesses. In memory of these men who fell on the eve of the first liberation, a cross was erected on the spot where they died. Nestor Borremans was 24 and Vital Etienne only 19.

Rue de Dochamps; 6987 Devantave
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