At this location, the German cavalry carried out heavy charges on 12 August 1914 on the nearby farm "Yser Mining" where the center of the Belgian position was located. The cyclists or Black Devils took the Germans under fire in the hollow. Black devils is a name given by the Germans to the cyclists who defended Halen "Schwarze Teufel". The Black Devils have suffered heavy losses here.

The memorial was inaugurated on May 15, 1976 and was erected under the impetus of Jozef Stroobants and the 1st Regiment Cyclisten on a piece of land owned by the Stroobants family, the driving force behind the museum "Slag der Zilveren Helmen". The "European Cross" was erected during the 75th anniversary in 1989 as a tribute to all the fallen along with the planting of the weeping willow.  It is a large rock of natural stone from Elzenborn on which an iron plate with the sign of the Black Devils is attached.