Source: Wikipedia

At the beginning of 1942, the German High Command decided to set up a secret cemetery in the remote area of ​​the training ground for all prisoners executed in Belgium and to carry out executions on the spot. In all likelihood, the executions took place between 3 and 4 a.m. in the light of the trucks carrying the prisoners.

At the execution site there are still 4 execution poles for a bullet trap of piled up tree trunks. A little further on, the victims were buried and given a pole with a number.  After the liberation in September 1944, 204 graves were found, respectively of 174 resistance members, whose names are known, twenty unknowns, two British R.A.F. soldiers and eight so-called "common criminals" by the Germans. In the period 1945-1947, the corpses were exhumed and transferred to their respective municipalities. Other bodies were taken to the military cemetery of Leopoldsburg or to the Enclos des fusillés (Perimeter of the Executioners) at the Citadel in Liège.

In 1950 a monument to the Resistance was erected at the execution site in Hechtel and the place was called "Duin der gefusilleeerd" (Duin of the executed). Since 1984 there are four rows with 174 crosses at the memorial at the former cemetery in Hechtel.

Plot of Honor on the left side.

Plot of Honor on the right side.