Hello, I'm looking for more information regarding the operations of the Belgian Army in May 1940. What sites do you recommend? As my knowledge of French is limited (what makes searching on Google complicated) I would like especially to know what sites in the French language exist regarding this subject. Regards, Bart
Does this help? The Campaign of the Belgian army in May 1940 There is a book, called Belgium The Official Account of What Happened 1939-1940 The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be found on eBay & abebooks
A good article on a little apreciated subject. Nice to see that our Belgian brothers also respect the Jaegers
Not specifically Belgian Army related, but a search for 'Belgian' 'Belgium' & 'belgian Army' turns up loads of good shots on the IWM photograph archive: IWM Collections Online: Search Photographs Archive There's also a nice little series on there called - BELGIANS TRAIN IN ENGLAND - with shots of Belgian paras training at Ringway.
This is also worth a shufti: Belgian Armed Forces and links to this french site T II - Fasc 6 that has a good deal of stuff on 1940 Belgium, translates quite well into English using the Google translator but a bit tricky to navigate, worthwhile though.
Thanks! It will take some time to study the sites you've mentioned, but they were all new to me. Regards, Bart ------ Belgian Army Losses in the Netherlands, May 1940
Bart, I have this book. It's in three languages (but don't expect 'nieuwe spelling' !). It has situation maps for each of the 18 days together with a fairly limited written account. Its major focus is the position of the Belgian forces although French and British are also shown. Have you come across this one ? It is rather too big for my scanner unfortunately and has a fragile gummed binding so I wouldn't want to copy the whole thing but I could look at some aspects for you. Rich.
Bart Nederlander of Belg? I found this site : The Belgian Armed Forces 1940 -1946 Introduction good luck/veel geluk Arne
I have been looking at the Belgian Army, especially aspects of its organisation and have posted my findings, problems and speculations on the Axis History Forum. I hope to create as detailed a diagram for the organisation of a Belgian Infantry Division as possible. So far I have got good information on the Infantry Regiment and its sub units but lack any similar details for the Artillery Regiment. If anyone can provide such details or suggest a source for such information it would be much appreciated.
Rich Payne, would it be possible to supply more details about the book you mentioned The campaign of May 1940 so I can try and track a copy down. I have some campaign maps from various sources showing Corps and Division positions at a few dates in the 18 day campaign, as well as Bikars map with all its fascinating detail Thanks for any help
daveh, sorry for the delay in replying. I don't know if you'll find a copy of this booklet for sale. It was a semi-official publication / report and mine has spent some time in one of the Belgian Army libraries. It was published in May 1945 by the Belgian Army Historical Service (1940 Campaign Department). Presumably they made copies available to the War Office etc. Perhaps the IWM has a copy ? If there are any particular dates that you're interested in, I'll do my best to scan it but as I mentioned above, it has a fragile binding and if I fold it open on every page, it will fall apart.
Thank you for your offer of possibly scanning some of the maps for me. Bearing in mind the fragile state of your copy I have listed below the maps I would like to see in order of interest most interesting to me at the top. 12-5-40 20-5-40 14-5-40 25-5-40 Naturally I am tempted to say all of them please but any scans - even just one-would be very welcome and most helpful. Thanks in advance Daveh
Dave, Here is a scan of the map for 12/5/40. I can't see any reference to artillery units. Is it the sort of thing that you're looking for ? There is a short commentary as well but not super-detailed. If you want to see some more, it might be best to pm me with your e-mail address rather than clog up the forum with thumbnails and risk me inadvertently deleting them from ImageShack.
One of the things I wish to do is look at the moves of each divisional sized unit (smaller would be even better) day by day during the 18 day campaign. This map (and any similar) would be very useful in trying to do that so yes I'd love to see more!. My email has been removed by Owen, please contact daveh by Private Message My interest in artillery units is partly due to my inability..so far..to discover as detailed information on their organisation and equipment as I have managed, with a lot of help, to find for the infantry regiments. Thanks for your time and help Dave EDIT Please don't put email addresses in posts. It attracts nasty spam bots to the site and it's also best to keep your contact details private.
A bit late now (these threads seem to be around March) but I found a copy of this book on internet which allowed a free download so, I have got a copy in PDF format. If you want a copy I should be able to mail it to you. Please PM me if you are interested. Brian
