Monument des vendéens - Tournai

This monument commemorates the memory of the Vendée soldiers who died on August 24 , 1914 to defend Tournai against the German attackers.

On August 4, 1914, when Germany crossed the Belgian border after refusing its ultimatum, war was declared. The Germans showed no mercy and advanced quickly.

From a train in northern France, two battalions of the 83rd and 84th regiments, consisting of soldiers older than those of the active infantry, come to Tournai to counter the lightning-fast German advance. The French were armed only with Lebel guns and had no artillery or machine guns , unlike the enemy. An unequal and merciless battle for control of Tournai was fought from dawn on August 24 along the Chaussée de Renaix and on the Pont Morelle. The Germans did not hesitate to use civilians as shields .

The statue on top of the hill on a square pedestal is a "giant" made by Egide Rombaux (1865-1942). The sculptor chose the symbol of the giant as a reference to the nickname "Giants of the Vendée" that Napoléon Bonaparte gave to the Vendéens in tribute to their courage during their uprising against the Convention.

Originally, the nine-foot-tall "Giant" with his athletic body held the torch of Civilization at the end of his right arm, while the beams of Law lined up at his feet. In May 1940, the torch and the right leg were blown off by a grenade, hence the inscription "Maimed in May 1940" on the pedestal. The giant's nose has changed due to the passage of time and pollution. The torch of the Eternal Flame, surrounded by the coats of arms of Fontenay, Les Sables d'Olonne and La Roche-sur-Yon (the three towns where the soldiers came from) completes the picture.

Willem Vandenameele