History Information (Source: CWGC)

The British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk.  Commonwealth forces did not return until September 1944, but in the intervening years, many airmen were shot down or crashed in raids on strategic objectives in Belgium, or while returning from missions over Germany.

Koersel Communal Cemetery contains the graves of five airmen of the Second World War.

CUYPERS Albert,  Breendonk 11 April 1944, one of the 24 Partizans that were killed in Fort Breendonk on 11 April 1944.

Albert Cuypers from Beverlo joins the partisans and is given the position of detachment commander. He was tracked down by the Sipo-SD in early December 1943. VNV mayor Moons van Koersel acts as a pointer to indicate his home. Cuypers himself is not at home at the time and his wife Anna Dielkens can also just escape by jumping out of the window of a back room, whereupon one of the German Feldgendarmen, according to Mayor Moons, remarks with amusement: “What a beautiful girl”. On December 23, 1943, he and fellow local Domien Dekelver were arrested by the Herentals gendarmerie on charges of robbery and locked up in Turnhout prison.

HOREMANS Louis,  Breendonk 11 April 1944, one of the 24 Partizans that were killed in Fort Breendonk on 11 April 1944.

Louis Horemans was born in Mol in 1922, works in the mine of Beringen and lives in the mining community of Koersel. He married Fernande Schaeken in 1942. Her brothers Alfons and Clement Schaeken are his permanent partners with the partisans. He was able to escape the detection of the Sipo-SD, but on January 18, 1944 he was arrested by a police patrol in Geel after he had committed an armed robbery on a tax officer. On February 3, the Antwerp Sipo-SD takes over the file and transfers Horemans to the prison of Antwerp, then to Breendonk. The German martial law convicts him of the liquidation of the mayor and town clerk of Heppen and of robbery.

MEURIS Alfons,  Breendonk 11 April 1944, one of the 24 Partizans that were killed in Fort Breendonk on 11 April 1944.

Alfons Meuris, born in 1912 in Itegem, works as a mechanic at the Beringen mine.  On the night of January 16 to 17, 1944, Alfons Meuris and Clement Schaeken were arrested in their home in the miners' town of Koersel by a commando of Sipo-SD agents from Hasselt, reinforced with Feldgendarmen. They also hunt for Louis Horemans, but he is able to escape. It is clear to everyone that the arrests are a consequence of the arrests at the widow of Beliën two days earlier.  Florent Meuris witnesses the arrest of his younger brother Alfons: “by the gestapo and this because he was a member of the resistance. My brother was put in a car and taken away and we didn't hear anything about it afterwards.”
Alfons Meuris, together with Dekelver, is sentenced to death by the German martial law for the liquidation of a collaborator in nearby Beverlo and for his involvement in a train sabotage in Hamont-Achel on June 10, 1944, a week before his arrest.

SCHAEKEN Joannes-Alfons,  Breendonk 11 April 1944, one of the 24 Partizans that were killed in Fort Breendonk on 11 April 1944.

Alfons Schaeken was born in Koersel in 1920 and he worked in the Beringen mine before the war. In July 1943 he went into hiding, or in the words of the German justice: “…however, he had not worked since July 1943 and had lived from smuggling ever since. He had already been punished for theft and assault.” His widow explains about that period: “We then lived on the proceeds of the coal that I picked up at the dump in Zolder and which we sold.” On January 15, 1944, he was arrested at the home of his mother-in-law Maria Beliën in Heusden, where he went into hiding. His wife Leonie was unable to provide any information about her husband's activities with the partisans, “since he was with the resistance against my will, I told he never gave me anything. Meetings have never taken place in my home itself.”

SCHAEKEN Clement,  Breendonk 11 April 1944, one of the 24 Partizans that were killed in Fort Breendonk on 11 April 1944.

Clement Schaeken was also arrested on the night of January 16 to 17, 1944. He is a miner, born in 1923, brother of Alfons (arrested on January 15) and Fernande, who is married to Louis Horemans. He lives in hiding. Clement Schaeken is accused of, together with his brother Alfons, shooting the manager of café Minerva in Beverlo.  The second accusation may be surprising: “He had orders to free two partisans arrested by the Belgian police in Turnhout prison. This failed.”  With this naughty plan, the partisan army wants to free their comrades Albert Cuypers and Domien Dekelver, who were arrested by the gendarmerie a few weeks earlier in Herentals.

The cemetery in Koersel contains the graves of 23 Russian war graves from the Second World War. These are the graves of prisoners of war who were employed by the Germans under miserable conditions in the Limburg coal mines.