Situated at a strategic European geographical crossroads, the City of Mons and its region have been the scene of several major historical events over the centuries. In particular, our city was an important stage on the journey made by thousands of soldiers during the First World War and the Second World War. When the 1940-1945 war broke out, the French armies tried to contain the German advance around Mons. However, the influx of thousands of refugees on the roads and enemy air attacks plunged the town back into a second occupation. This lasted until August 1944.The City of Mons keeps the memory of the many victims of the Second World War alive through commemorative ceremonies. The city also invites you to discover the Mons Memorial Museum, whose collections offer a fresh look at the relationship between civilians and the military. Another of its initiatives is the number of monumental frescoes that have been painted around the city in honour of the courage and sacrifice of our Resistance fighters, notably Marguerite Bervoets and Gabriel Ottelet.

Belgium

Visit Mons

Beffroi de Mons

Mons Memorial Museum

Mons Obelisk

Mons City center

Maintaining order, supplying the population and carrying out purification operations are the committee's main missions.Its members were: Edmond Bovyn, Albert Bekaile, and Edgard Platteau for the Front de l'Indépendance; Marthe Thiry, Hélène Huppez and Pierre Ruelle for "Solidarité du Front de l'Indépendance"; Léopold Prince for the Partisans Armés; M. le commissaire Hottiaux for the Mouvement National Belge; M. Vienne for the Cheminots résistants and Abbé De Vogel for the Catholic party, Emile Houssiaux for the Christian Democrat party, Léon Leborgne for the Liberal party, Adrien Lux for the Socialist party and M. Hennequin for the Communist party.The committee officially welcomed the American liberators to the town hall. Major Dugan (Intelligence and Public Relation Officer of the 3rd AD), American war correspondent George Hicks and Lieutenant Tresca (French liaison officer) signed the visitors' book.At the end of the afternoon, the Grand Place was filled with Montois people in their Sunday best, enjoying the fine weather and their new-found freedom. Apprehended collaborators were taken to the Town Hall, before the Liberation Committee, then assembled at the Casteau camp. Léonce Descamps testifies: "The liberation was scandalous in Mons. When I arrived at the Grand-Place, I could have cried. Women's belongings were undone, their hair was cut short, and swastikas were marked on their heads. Most had to be released".

The City of Mons Liberation Committee

Jean Bodaert headed a small staff, consisting of: Edouard Melart (Chief of Staff), Raymond Duplouys (Deputy and Head of Administration), Odon Dubois (Intelligence) and Henri Pottiez (First Shock and Action Group). The OMBR received its orders from London. The organisation's mission was to protect bridges and public buildings in the region (by surveying maps, in particular of German telephone networks, and road and river traffic). However, it also helped people who refused to take part in compulsory labour, Jewish people, and airmen. It was part of the network linking the Resistance movements in the region (Armée Secrète (Secret Army), Service de Renseignement et d’Action (Intelligence and Action Service), Front de l’Indépendance (Independence Front) and Mouvement National Belge (Belgian National Movement). It also contributed to "Coup de Queue", a local underground newspaper. On 10 February 1944, the local section of the OMBR was decapitated by a raid by the German authorities during a meeting at the Novada café.From 3 September 1944, the Comité de Libération (Liberation Committee) was based at the town hall. It was an offshoot of the political parties and Resistance movements, set up to fill the power vacuum between the departure of the German authorities and the return of the legal authorities. The committee's main tasks were to maintain order, ensure supplies for the population and carry out purge operations.Its members were: Edmond Bovyn, Albert Bekaile and Edgard Platteau for the Front de l'Indépendance; Marthe Thiry, Hélène Huppez and Pierre Ruelle for Solidarité du Front de l'Indépendance; Léopold Prince for the Partisans Armés; Commissioner Mr. Hottiaux for the Mouvement National Belge; Mr. Vienne for the Cheminots Résistants; Abbé De Vogel for the Catholique Party; Emile Houssiaux for the Christian-Democrat party; Léon Leborgne for the Liberal Party; Adrien Lux for the Socialist Party and Mr. Hennequin for the Communist Party.When liberation came, the committee officially welcomed the American liberators to the town hall. The following signed the visitors' book: Major Dugan (Intelligence and Public Relations Officer of the 3rd AD), George Hicks (American war correspondent), and Lieutenant Tresca (French liaison officer).By the end of that afternoon, the Grand Place was full of dressed-up Montois enjoying the fine weather and the new-found freedom. The arrested collaborators were taken to the town hall before the Liberation Committee and then assembled at the Casteau Camp. According to eyewitness Léonce Descamps: "The liberation was scandalous in Mons. When I arrived at the Place de Mons, I could have wept. The women's clothes had been untied, they had shaved their hair and marked swastikas on their heads. They had to release to most of them.''

Mons Grand Place

At 05:30, Mr. Dinsart, the prison's Belgian director, released the two hundred political prisoners that were still incarcerated - not without offering them breakfast. Just as they had done during the First World War, during the Second World War the occupying forces used part of Mons Prison to incarcerate those opposed to their authority. More often than not, the prison was simply a transit point for deportation to the Nazi concentration camp system. More rarely, detention could lead to execution on the spot. For example, Marguerite Bervoets and Cécile Detournay were incarcerated here in 1942.On 22 May 1955, a memorial was erected by public subscription on the initiative of political prisoners from the Mons region, to commemorate the entrance to Hitler's prison. The memorial shows most of the concentration camps to which some of the political prisoners who passed through Mons Prison during the Second World War were transferred: Flossenburg, Buchenwald, Dora, Neuengamme, Dachau, Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück and Mauthausen.

Mons Prison

An hour later, at 19:20, the American troops entered Mons via the Place de Flandre. The many historical photos of the period show that they came in reconnaissance half-tracks (armoured vehicles), supported by at least one Tank Destroyer (anti-tank armoured vehicle armed with a 76.2mm cannon). The population flocked to welcome their liberators, and vehicles ventured towards the Grand Place, but the American troops were cautious. They knew nothing of the environment they were discovering: an urban area that the German forces had not necessarily left yet, ideal for ambushes against armoured vehicles, which were are particularly vulnerable in these circumstances. Shots were fired from the Feldpost in Place de Flandre, but fortunately no one was hit. The American troops set up a dozen roadblocks at the various entrances to the town, and the night was punctuated here and there by cannon shots and gunfire.Former curator of the Mons War Museum, Georges Licope, had the presence of mind to note down the number (3047787) was painted on the first American tank that entered Mons. In 1946, at the request of a Mons alderman who had approached the American authorities, a tank transport from Germany deposited an M5 Stuart tank in the middle of the Rue d'Enghien. This tank bore the serial number recorded by George Licope. It was moved to the "Jardin du Maïeur", within the grounds of the town hall. In 1982, the local authorities authorised the Mons Borinage Jeep Club to attempt to restore the tank. Research revealed that it belonged to the US 83rd Reconnaissance Battalion, the reconnaissance unit of the 3rd AD.The restoration of the tank, nicknamed "Fish'n Chips", took two years. On 2 September 1984, the tank made its way from the Bois Bourdon memorial to the Grand Place de Mons, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Liberation. In 1989, at the invitation of the municipal authorities, Major (er) John R. Tucker Jr. (commander of the 83rd Reconnaissance Battalion in 1944) returned to Belgium from the United States to make his entrance into Mons town aboard the Fish'n Chips.In 2000, at the invitation of President Clinton, the tank once again crossed the Atlantic, to take part in the 4 July parade. Since the early 2000s, the Fish'n Chips has been the star of "Tank in Town", an annual gathering of vintage vehicles commemorating the liberation of Mons and the surrounding area.

Americans troops arrive in Mons

The Mons Memorial Museum's tank pays tribute to "In the Mood", the name of the tank that belonged to Staff Sergeant Lafayette Green Pool. Lafayette is still known as the US Army's most illustrious tank commander of the Second World War. Born on 23 July 1919 in Odem, Texas, he joined the Army in 1941, with the 3rd AD. At the end of June 1944, he landed in Normandy with the 32nd Armored Regiment. As tank commander, he christened his tank "In the Mood", in tribute to Glenn Miller's famous jazz standard. This first tank was hit by a Panzerfaust (German anti-tank rocket) during the first attack by Combat Command A (the American armored divisions of the time fought in two groups, A and B, and a divisional reserve) at Villers-Fossard (Saint-Lô). Lafayette's second tank was better armored and better armed, with a 76mm cannon and fireproof ammunition bunkers. This second tank was destroyed by friendly fire on17 August 1944, near Fromentel.It was with his third tank that Lafayette entered Belgium and took part in the liberation of Mons. On 19 September 1944, this tank was destroyed by a Panther tank (the Sherman's "best enemy") at Münsterbusch near Aachen, on the Westwall. Lafayette lost a leg in the action, and the war was over for him.He remains credited with the destruction of 12 tanks and over 250 vehicles in the summer of 1944 alone. He was awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross, Légion d'Honneur and 1940 Belgian Fourragère.

The American M4A1 Sherman tank

Five of these obelisks mark the Division's route during the fight to liberate Europe. The first stands on the heights of Omaha Beach in Normandy, the last near Cheb in the Czech Republic. In Belgium, two others can be found near Henri-Chapelle and Butchenbach. The one in Mons was originally erected near Bois Bourdon, at the border crossing with France, on the road to Maubeuge. It was brought back to Mons in 1994, at the request of the regiment's veterans.The Big Red One gained prestige during the First World War in France. By 1944, the Division was one of the most experienced in the US Army. It was present in North Africa (1942), fought in Tunisia, landed and fought in Sicily (1943) and was designated to land on Omaha Beach on the morning of 6 June 1944. Like all American infantry divisions of the period, it fielded three infantry regiments, supported by four artillery battalions, and divisional support resources comparable to the 3rd AD (reconnaissance, engineers, armour, anti-aircraft and anti-tank, and medical and logistical support). The Big Red One followed the 3rd AD as it advanced towards Mons, about a day's march behind the tanks.

The Big Red One (US 1st Infantry Division) Obelisk

The Mons Memorial Museum opened in the spring of 2015. An area of 1,200 m² is devoted to the permanent exhibition, which provides information on the military history of the city of Mons, from the Ancien Régime to the Second World War. The museum invites visitors to reflect on the complex realities of the phenomena of war. <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nar2Q05OiVs?showinfo=0"></iframe>

The Mons Memorial Museum opened in the spring of 2015. An area of 1,200 m² is devoted to the permanent exhibition, which provides information on the military history of the city of Mons, from the Ancien Régime to the Second World War. The museum invites visitors to reflect on the complex realities of the phenomena of war.

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