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Belgium's Dilemma Belgium’s Dilemma History of Warfare Editors Kelly DeVries (Loyola University Maryland) John France (University of Wales, Swansea) Michael S. Neiberg (United States Army War College, Pennsylvania) Frederick Schneid (High Point University, North Carolina) VOLUME 96 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hw Belgium’s Dilemma The Formation of the Belgian Defense Policy, 1932-1940 By Jonathan A. Epstein LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Minister of National Defense Albert Devèze (in civilian clothing) observing anti-tank training in 1935. Collection of the Royal Army Museum, Brussels. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Epstein, Jonathan A. Belgium’s dilemma : the formation of the Belgian defense policy, 1932-1940 / by Jonathan A. Epstein. pages cm. -- (History of warfare, ISSN 1385-7827 ; volume 96) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25467-1 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-26973-6 (e-book) 1. Belgium--Military policy--History--20th century. 2. Belgium--Defenses--History--20th century. 3. Neutral- ity, Armed--Belgium--History--20th century. 4. Belgium. Arm?e--History--20th century. I. Title. UA680.E77 2014 355’.033549309043--dc23 2014001348 Figures 17 and 18 from West Point Military History Series: Atlas for the Second World War – Europe and the Mediterranean by Thomas E. Greiss, Series Editor, Square One Publishers, Inc. © 2002. Reprinted by permission. Brill has made all reasonable efforts to trace all copyright holders. In case these efforts have not been successful the publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so that the appropriate acknowledgements can be made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1385-7827 isbn 978-90-04-25467-1 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-26973-6 (e-book) Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. chapter title v I would like to dedicate this book to the Belgian army, which fought valiantly for its country in 1940! ⸪ © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004269736_001 vi contents Contents Acknowledgements ix List of Figures xi Introduction 1 1 Belgium and World War I 12 The Size of the Army Before World War I 13 The Language Issue to World War I 13 Deployment Controversies before World War I 19 The Belgian Army in World War I 22 The German Occupation of Belgium 25 Belgium and the Peace Settlement 31 2 Belgium Looks for Allies 39 3 Belgian Defense Policy to the Great Depression 51 The Main Actors in Defense Policy 51 The Reduction of the Belgian Army 55 Plans for Defense Against a Threatening Germany 58 General Galet 61 The Language Issue between 1918 and 1932 64 The Depression and the Belgian Military 67 4 The Devèze Years 70 The Chasseurs ardennais 77 The Budget Controversy 79 Raoul van Overstraeten 82 Devèze v. Nuyten 84 Franco-Belgian Staff Talks 89 The Motorization of the Cavalry Corps 93 The Debates over Coverage and Service Time 103 The Reoccupation of the Rhineland 110 5 The 1936 Mixed Commission 122 The Language Issue from the Mixed Commission to the War 152 Other Commissions 162 6 ‘Independence’ and its Origins 165 7 The Belgian Army to May 10, 1940 190 The Development and Assessment of the Belgian Military 191 Fortifications from 1938 to 1940 194 Defense Against Aircraft 199 The Sudeten Crisis and the Pied de Paix Renforcé 200 viii contents New Mobilization Plans 208 8 Belgium to May 10, 1940 210 Diplomacy 210 Belgium and the Netherlands 217 Mobilization 220 Belgian Military Intelligence and Alerts 226 9 The ‘Eighteen-Days’ Campaign’ 236 Conclusion 264 Bibliography 274 Index 282 Acknowledgements I would like to thank many people, starting with my wonderful advisors, Pro- fessors Kathy Williams and David Gordon, without whose support and guid- ance my dissertation – the basis of this book--would never have been started, let alone finished. I would like to thank the rest of my dissertation committee, Professors Dennis Showalter, Robert Seltzer, and Richard Powers for their interest in my work and their donation of time. I am particularly grateful to Professors Williams and Showalter for flying across the country to attend my defense. I would like to thank the archivists and their staffs who opened their collec- tions to me and who all went above and beyond the call of duty to help make my work a success. These include Richard Boijen, Pierre Lierneux, Roger Vranken, and the staff of the Centre de Documentation Historique of the Musée Royal de l’Armée et d’Histoire Militaire; Gustaaf Janssens of the Archives of the Royal Palace; Françoise Peemans, Didier Amaury, and the staff of the Archives du Ministère Belge des Affaires Étrangères; and Katleen Van Acker and the staff of the Service Générale de Renseignements-Securitè-Section/Archive. I am also very grateful to Kristin Liekens of the Central Library of Defense for her gener- osity and dedication in repeatedly copying and shipping me documents free of charge. I appreciate Dr. Joost Vaesen’s sharing his conference paper with me. I would like to thank Professors Luc de Vos of the École royal militaire and Eugenia Kiesling of the United States Military Academy for meeting with me and giving me advice. Professor Kiesling’s Arming Against Hitler inspired me to write this book. I would like to thank Bob Rowen and Dr. David Munns for reading some of this work and giving me helpful feedback. I would like to thank my wonderful editors at Brill, Julian Deahl, who sought this manuscript out, Marcella Mulder, and Wouter Bok. I am also greatly indebted to my indexer, Christine Retz. I also appreciate the advice of the anonymous readers for Brill. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me during my studies, my dissertation work, and my manuscript writing. Without them I would never have finished this. Naturally, all errors are mine alone. Jonathan A. Epstein x contents chapter title xi List of Figures Figure Caption 1 “Map of Belgium, showing cities mentioned in text and Dutch-French language division,” Carl Strikwerda, A House Divided: Catholics, Socialists, and Flemish Nationalists in Nineteenth-Century Belgium (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997), p. ix 3 2 Lieutenant-General Émile Galet. Collection of the Royal Army Museum, Brussels 61 3 Minister of National Defense Albert Devèze. Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 71 4 Lieutenant-General Prudent Nuyten. Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 73 5 Map showing the rival defensive conceptions, Galet’s and Nuyten’s and Devèze’s. Belgian Military Archives (SGRS-S/A), p. 41 74 6 Colonel Raoul van Overstraeten (as a major-general). Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 83 7 Lieutenant-General Adolphe Cumont. Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 90 8 Lieutenant-General van Strydonck de Burkel inspecting T-13s. Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 97 9 Lieutenant-General Édouard Van den Bergen (as a major-general). Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 103 10 Albert Devèze’s provisional battalion scheme. Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels, MRA-BAFM 5496 (185-14a-7095) after #518 127 11 General Van den Bergen’s provisional battalion scheme. Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels, MRA-BAFM 5496 (185-14a-7095) after #519 128 12 (L-R) LTG Denis, King Léopold III, LTG Van den Bergen, MG Deffontaine, MG van Overstraeten in April, 1938. Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 192 13 Belgian soldiers during the P.P.R. Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 203 14 Map P.P.R. 1938, sous-farde Attachés Militaires-Belgian Military Archives (SGRS-S/A) 204 15 Major-General Oscar Michiels (as a lieutenant-general). Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 231 16 Military review in Brussels, April 8, 1940. T-15s shown. RMA EST/I 950 #5. Collection of the Royal Museum of the Army, Brussels 232 xii list of figures 17 “Northwestern France, 1940-Campaign in the West, 1940 (Situation 16 May and Operations Since 10 May)”. Maps from West Point Military History Series: Atlas for the Second World War – Europe and the Mediterranean by Thomas E. Greiss, Series Editor, Square One Publishers, Inc. Copyright 2002. Reprinted by permission 245 18 “Northwestern France, 1940-Campaign in the West, 1940 (Situation 21 May and Operations Since 16 May)”. Maps from West Point Military History Series: Atlas for the Second World War – Europe and the Mediterranean by Thomas E. Greiss, Series Editor, Square One Publishers, Inc. Copyright 2002. Reprinted by permission 250 IntroductionIntroduction 1 Introduction At 4 a.m. on May 28, 1940, the Belgian army ceased its hopeless resistance against the German Wehrmacht. King Leopold III, the commander-in-chief of the Belgian forces which had been caught up in the disaster that befell the Allied First Army Group, had been forced to seek a cease-fire the previous day with the Belgian forces exhausted and out of reserves and the Allied army group cut off from the rest of the French forces and apparently destined for destruc tion.1 The Belgians, and their king, Leopold III, are often made the scapegoats for the failure of the Allies in May-June 1940.
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