Celles ( wa, Cele-dilé-Dinant) is a village of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and a district of the municipality of

Houyet Houyet () is a municipality of Wallonia in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 4,485 inhabitants. The total area is 122.31 km², giving a population density of 37 inhabitants per km². The municipality con ...

, located in the

province of Namur Namur (; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French depart ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It is a member of the heritage group ''

Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie ''Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie'' ( French; in English: "The Most Beautiful Villages of Wallonia") is a non-profit organisation formed in 1994 to promote, protect and develop a number of villages in Wallonia, Belgium. The association is ins ...

'' ("The Most Beautiful Villages of Wallonia"). It is served by Gendron-Celles railway station, located several kilometres south-west of the village centre, next to the river

Lesse The Lesse is a river in the Ardennes, in the Walloon region of Belgium. It is a right tributary to the river Meuse. The source of the Lesse is near Libramont-Chevigny, in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. The Lesse flows roughly in north-west ...

. The Château de Vêves is near the village. It was one of the farthest points that the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

advanced during the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

(December 1944) in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, which is commemorated by a preserved

Panther tank The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to ...

.see also :nl:Tankmonument (Celles)

External links

Website of ''Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie'': Celles

Notes and References

Former municipalities of Namur (province) {{Namur-geo-stub