The Campaign of the Belgian army in May 1940

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Geplaatst: Za Okt 23, 2010 6:49 pm

The Campaign of the Belgian army in May 1940

This article will give the reader a detailed overview of the 18 days the Belgian army fought in May 1940. This article is based on Belgian, German, French and English sources.

Prelude to the war

In 1936 Belgium started its policy of "Armed Independence", which is different than a policy of strict neutrality. The Policy of "Armed Independence" was highly supported by the Belgian people even if it meant that 25% of the national budget was spent on the military and that in times of economic recession. Nor Britain or France were able to outline such a policy. In both countries military expenditures were highly criticized by public opinion until it was too late.

The inability of the French and British government to react when Germany re-occupied the Rhine-land had brought the German army at the Belgian-German border. The international agreements were broken (Locarno pact). At that time Belgium was the only country prepared to help France in case of a war with Germany. But France didn’t react, as Britain didn’t want to support a war.

Before 1936 Belgium was obliged to help France or Germany when the other attacked the other one and vice versa. French generals and politicians saw Belgium not as an independent state but as the ideal battleground to fight another war with Germany. As tensions grew all over Europe Belgium needed a policy which was supported by the majority of the Belgian people, "Armed Independence".

The majority of the Belgians were against the Germans, but also against the French and this goes back to what happened after WOI, where Belgium was completely forgotten by the French in the Versailles Treaty. Also by not extending the Maginot Line at the Belgian-French border, the French practically invited the Germans to attack France through Belgium. The Belgian government asked the French government, on several occasions, to extent the fortifications, but as the French post-war commission wrote the French military preferred to fight the war with Germany in Belgium. This refusal resulted in a growing mistrust of the French by the Belgian population.

The British government supported in the 1930's the Belgian policy. The following is written in official documents of the Foreign office: The military built-up in Belgium, and the strengthening of their defenses, increases their chances to remain neutral, an attitude, which is beneficial for France and for ourselves.

In 1940 Belgium would have the best-prepared army in its history. Even Germany was impressed by the military built-up in Belgium and Hitler counted to need one million troops to defeat the Belgian army. While Belgium was doing an extraordinary effort to strengthen his army, Britain was following a policy of "no responsibility". Or in military terms, in the winter of 1939 the British Expeditionary Force was only 152.000 men strong. In May 1940 the BEF counted only 237.000 men. If it had spent the same proportional amount of its national budget on the military as Belgium, Britain would have had an army of 4.8 million men strong.

In 1939 France, Britain and Germany pressed Belgium to join their ranks. As these countries knew that Belgium would defend itself when being attacked. The German generals preferred to wait until France and Britain invaded Belgium before starting an attack in the West. In this way Germany would not be blamed to violate the neutrality of Belgium (letters of Von Rundsted and Leeb to Hitler ). The military built-up in Belgium had also an influence on the Germans military plans. The decision to start "Fall Gelb" was postponed for two months (new starting date: 12 november 1940). The German generals argued that the principle of surprise was lost because of the preparedness of the Belgian army and the defense positions of this army in the Liege area (Von Reichenau).

The neutral status of Belgium gave also the French and British army the extra-time which they clearly needed knowing the state of their armies. By remaining neutral Hitler hadn't an excuse to invade Belgium, an excuse, which he needed to convince the German public opinion of the necessity of a war in the west. It was only Hitler against the advice of all his generals who decided to invade Belgium and the Netherlands and violate their neutral status. But before he made his final decision, he postponed five times the operations in the west (12th November, 17th January….). If Belgium had allowed French troops to take positions in their country, Germany had certainly attacked much earlier in 1940.

When on the 10th of January German military plans were captured when a German plane crashed, Belgian King Leopold III was prepared to accept allied troops in his country if the following conditions were agreed:

* Peace negotiations are not started without Belgian participation
* Belgium's integrity and of his colonies would be guaranteed after the war
* Financial support when Belgium needed to rebuilt his country after the war

For the British government (except Churchill) these conditions were unacceptable. The French decided that they didn't need to wait for an invitation and if Holland was attacked would march into Belgium with or without Belgian approval. The speech of Churchil on the 30th March stating that the neutral countries were scared to chose a side was an insult to the efforts which Belgium had done regarding its military efforts far more greater than Britain or France.

Organization and Equipment

The Belgian army counted 650 000 men (22 divisions). With another 150 000 men drafted in May 1940 to be sent to France to form reserve units. Totaling 800 000 men out of a population of 8 million In comparison it was three times a strong as the BEF (British Expeditionary Force). The majority were infantry divisions (all around 17 000 men strong), 2 divisions "Ardense Jagers" which were considered by the Germans as elite units, 2 divisions Cavalry (motorized infantry), a heavy artillery division, and several specialized regiments.

The infantry:

The infantry equipment was totally renewed after WOI. The standard gun was the 1935 Mauser. The automatic-gun Browning and the grenade launcher D.B.T. were good weapons. The standard anti-tank gun 47mm was one the best anti-tank weapons available at that time and could take out any tank (Panzer). This weapon would save many units during the eighteen days the Belgian army fought. Also to their disposal, 76mm mortars and Maxim machine guns.

Each division had three regiments of infantry, one reconnaissance unit, one regiment artillery and one-battalion engineers.

We need to make a difference between the active and 1st reserve divisions (12 divisions) and the 2nd reserve divisions (6 divisions). The first were fully equipped, but the 2nd reserve divisions, because of lack of budget were totally under-equipped. Meaning they lacked anti-tank weapons, mortars, machine guns, etc. In theory these divisions would be placed in quiet sectors of the frontline, but the events which occurred in May 1940 forced the Belgian army otherwise.

The "Ardense Jagers" divisions had additionally a battalion of AFVs to their disposal. Also their artillery was motorized and all regiments had bicycles, which made them quite mobile divisions.

On the whole the infantry lacked anti-air weapons and radios. The divisions also lacked sufficient mechanized transportation. During the war the divisions had to move mostly on foot. Also very painful was the low number of automatic guns. Something the Germans had plenty of.

The Cavalry

The cavalry was completely motorized, with about 270 AFVs and 16 tanks. The reason for this low number of tanks is merely political. The Belgian politicians were convinced that such an offensive weapon was inappropriate for an army of a neutral country.

o T13 (5 tons, equipped with a 47mm anti-tank weapon and machine gun, only armour at the front
o T15 (6 tons, completely armoured and equipped with a 13.2mm machine gun on a rotating copula
o Renault AMC 35 (15 tons, equipped with 47mm anti-tank weapon and a 13.2mm machine gun). This was the only real tank.

The cavalry also had motorized artillery, sidecars and a lot of bicycles.

On the whole the cavalry divisions were good equipped but the lack of tanks was inexcusable.

The Artillery:

The Belgian artillery had around 20 different pieces (totaling 1338 pieces), which made supply rather complex. The standard artillery guns were 75mm and 105mm and the motorized ones 120mm. The heavy artillery division also had six pieces of 170mm and five of 280mm and one of 305mm but these pieces had to be used on railways and were very inaccurate. They dated from WOI and were originally German.

On the whole the Belgian artillery was very well trained and outclassed the German artillery in May 1940.

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