WWII Military History of Belgium
The German army began its advance on Western Europe in early 1940. Due to Belgium being situated north of the French Maginot line, the north flanking bulk of the German army pushed into Belgium on the 10th May 1940.
The main defensive position constructed by the Belgians was the fort at Eben-Emael. This was constructed to cover the strategically important Albert Canal and three bridges. For this reason paratroopers of the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division attacked the fort on the 10th May.
They had planned and rehearsed the attack in advance on similar forts within German territory and were deployed in gliders which landed on the roof of the fort. They then proceeded to render the defenses inoperable by using specially designed pole charges and flamethrowers. On the following day, the 11th, German infantry units arrived and the Belgian defenders surrendered, leaving the Germans to advance on through Belgium and into France. Careful planning and organisation by the German forces succesfully breached the previously believed impregnable fort in 24 hours leading to the Belgian capitulation on the 28th of May and becoming an occupied territory until 1944 when the Allies pushed the Germans back from their captured territories.
In 1944 the Allies had succeeding in recapturing France and had reached the important port of Antwerp, but the Germans still held the waterways approaching the port.
This fact was ignored during September 1944 as Operation Market Garden was attempting to open up a direct route into Germany. Due to the partial failure of this offensive, it was decided to clear the entrance to Antwerp to allow more effective resupply. For this reason, a series of operations called the Battle of the Sheldt were launched from October 2nd 1944 to November 8th. This attack was led by the First Canadian Army and after a month of gruelling and costly amphibious operations, the Canadians and Allies from other nations finally removed the persistant German defenders.
The next major campaign fought on Belgian territory was that of the Ardennes Offensive (Wacht am Rhein or the Battle of the Bulge), when the Germans launched a counteroffensive on the 16th December 1944, attempting to drive an armoured wedge between the British and American forces and to retake Antwerp and hopefully drive the Western Allies to the negotiating table. The American forces were caught by surprise partially because the Germans launched their offensive under the cover of bad weather, preventing Allied aerial reconnaissance. The Americans suffered many casualties and two regiments of the US 106th Infantry Division were forced to surrender en-mass.
However, the German assault began to be slowed by resistance and lack of resupply. When the weather cleared and allowed Allied air superiority once more, the German offensive was effectively destroyed, removing many experienced German soldiers and much badly needed equipment from German reserves. The Germans were unable to mount a sizeable counteroffensive after their losses and from this period on, their defenses collapsed under the Allies’ advances.
As an interesting footnote, Belgium’s overseas colonies in the Congo, provided uranium to the American Manhattan Project, allowing them to produce atomic weapons before any of the Axis nations. This agreement was made between the USA and the Belgian government-in-exile, now based in London.
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