The Maquis Chapel

Inaugurated on 5 September 1948, the Maquis Chapel in Brûly-de-Pesche was built in memory of the members of Groupe D du Service Hotton who, during the Second World War, sacrificed their lives fighting the Nazi invaders. From July 1944 until the end of the war, the woods around Brûly-de-Pesche were the last refuge of this nomadic group of maquisards, who had been in Thiérache since October 1943.

The Maquis chapel was built on the initiative of Charles Claes, notary and burgomaster of Brûly-de-Couvin. He had it built at his own expense, on his land, on the site of a former guardhouse at one of the camp entrances.

Charles Claes commissioned associate architects Roger Bastin (1913-1986) and Jacques Dupuis (1914-1984) to design the Maquis chapel.

Engraved on the ceiling of the central dome are the names of the 44 Maquis members of Groupe D who were executed, killed in action or died in captivity during the war.

Over the years, the Maquis chapel has become the link between former Maquis members and their descendants, who are members of the Fraternelle du Service Hotton (FSH). It has enabled all the officers, as well as their children and grandchildren, to keep alive the memory of the fallen and preserve the ties that united them, just as it reminds everyone of the memory of the Resistance against Nazi oppression.