Lieutenant-General Félix Maximilien Eugène Wielemans (10 January 1863 – 5 January 1917) was the Chief of Staff of the

Belgian Army The Land Component ( nl, Landcomponent, french: Composante terre) is the land branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The King of the Belgians is the commander in chief. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Pierre Gérard. ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. After serving as the Chief of the Military Cabinet to the War Office under

Charles de Broqueville Charles Marie Pierre Albert, 1st Count de Broqueville (4 December 1860 – 5 September 1940) was the prime minister of Belgium, serving during World War I. Before 1914 Charles de Broqueville was born into an old noble family with its roots in ...

in the run-up to the War, he took up the post of Deputy Chief of the General Staff in 1914, and was promoted to Chief of the General Staff in 1915. He represented Belgium at the Allied War Council in December 1915, and the Paris Conference in March 1916. He received a large number of decorations for his role in the war, including the personal presentation of the

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

by General Joffre. He died suddenly in January 1917, at Houtem; the cause of his death was reported by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

contracted whilst in the trenches.

References

*Obituary: p. 153, ''The Annual Register: a review of public events at home and abroad, for the year 1917''. London: Longmans, Green and Co. 1918. *Death notice: p. 2, ''The New York Times'', 7 January 1917.
Wielemans
on ars-moriendi.be {{DEFAULTSORT:Wielemans, Felix 1863 births 1917 deaths Belgian generals Belgian military personnel killed in World War I Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Belgian Army generals of World War I Deaths from pneumonia in Belgium Military personnel from Ghent