18 Facts About Belgian resistance

Belgian Resistance collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II.

The Belgian resistance included both men and women from both Walloon and Flemish parts of the country.

On that same day the Belgian resistance government sent a telegram to the imprisoned Belgian resistance king, stating their resignation to the king.

Three days later the Belgian resistance government stripped his ministerial title in reaction to the speech.

Nevertheless, Belgian resistance was slow to develop in the first few months of the occupation because it seemed that German victory was imminent.

Related searches

King Leopold III, imprisoned in Laeken Palace, became a focal point for passive Belgian resistance, despite having been condemned by the government-in-exile for his decision to surrender.

Belgian resistance effort was extremely fragmented between various groups and never became a unified organization during the German occupation.

Much of the Belgian resistance's press focused around producing newspapers in both French and Dutch language as alternatives to collaborationist newspapers like Le Soir.

The Belgian resistance provided around 80 percent of all information received by the Allies from all resistance groups in Europe.

Belgian resistance was instrumental in saving Jews and Roma from deportation to death camps.

Certain high-profile members of the Belgian resistance establishment, including Queen Elizabeth and Cardinal van Roey, Archbishop of Malines, spoke out against the German treatment of Jews.

The Belgian resistance's aim, assisted by the British MI9 organization, was to escort them out of occupied Europe and over the Pyrenees to neutral Spain where they might return to England.

Nevertheless, the Belgian resistance was frequently reliant on finance and drops of equipment and supplies which both the government-in-exile and the British Special Operations Executive were able to provide.

In May 1944, the government-in-exile attempted to rebuild its relationship with the Belgian resistance by establishing a "Coordination Committee" of representatives of the major groups, including the Legion Belge, Mouvement National Belge, Groupe G and the Front de l'Independance.

The Belgian resistance was particularly important during the liberation of the city of Antwerp, where the local Belgian resistance from the and, in an unprecedented display of inter-group cooperation, assisted British and Canadian forces in capturing the highly strategic port of Antwerp intact, before it could be sabotaged by the German garrison.

Belgian resistance was praised by contemporaries for its contribution to the Allied war effort; particularly during the later period.

The continuing actions of the Belgian resistance stopped the Germans ever being able to use the country as a secure base, never fully becoming pacified.

In December 1946, the government of Camille Huysmans inaugurated a medal to be awarded to former members of the Belgian resistance and bestowed various other benefits on other members, including pensions and a scheme of state-funded apprenticeships.