Syndicat d'Initiative
de Cerfontaine
de Cerfontaine
Between 1919 and 1923
Stone.
The First World War shook Europe from the beginning of the summer of 1914.
While the German army invaded Belgium on 4 August, 60 residents of Cerfontaine left to fight the invader.
They were greatly delayed by the Ardennes relief, as well as by the many Belgian forts in Liège, Namur, and Antwerp.
The Germans arrived in Cerfontaine on 25 August, and unlike neighbouring places, the village did not suffer major looting or destruction. Only a small looting was carried out by the enemy. This protection of the village is thanks to the courage of the local mayor, Alfred François, who took himself hostage to ensure the passage of the enemy troops, the Uhlanen, without being attacked.
The mayor, quickly accompanied by a Jesuit and a policeman, lets the enemy riders pass while they stand with their weapons pointed towards their backs. If a shot had been fired, the three men would have been shot on the spot and the village would have been set on fire.
Ultimately, despite the presence of French soldiers hiding at the village exit, no action will disrupt the mayor's march escorting the Germans out of Cerfontaine.
An heroic act that saved Cerfontaine from destruction.
Finally, after the armistice, when Australian troops crossed the square of Cerfontaine, it was learned that of the 60 Cerfontaine residents who had gone to the front, 3 had given their lives on the battlefield.
To honour their memory and their sacrifice, these two stelae were first placed on the school building.
However, the residents of Cerfontaine, who wanted a more glorious memorial than two simple plaques, will pressure the new mayor (Alfred François died on 23 March 1919) to have another monument erected by the municipality. This will be inaugurated in 1923 and is located a little further away.
As for the two stelae, they have been moved to the church.
One of them is cracked.