The 1st Corps of the Belgian Army (french: 1er Corps d'Armée belge), also known as 1 BE Corps, was a

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. ...

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

active during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and the Cold War.

World War II

During the Belgian Campaign of 1940, it initially held defences at Liège but was forced to retreat by the German XVI Panzer Corps. The

Battle of Fort Eben-Emael The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces that took place between 10 May and 11 May 1940, and was part of the Battle of Belgium and ''Fall Gelb'', the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. An assault ...

occurred along the Corps' defensive line. German planners had recognised the need to eliminate Fort Eben-Emael if their army was to break into the interior of Belgium. It decided to deploy airborne forces (''

Fallschirmjäger The ''Fallschirmjäger'' () were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first German paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander ...

'') to land inside the fortress perimeter using gliders. Using special explosives and flamethrowers to disable the defences, the ''Fallschirmjäger'' then entered the fortress. In the course of the battle, German infantry overcame the defenders of the I Belgian Corps' 7th Infantry Division in 24 hours.

Post-war service

During the Cold War, it served initially as an army of occupation in Germany and then as part of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Northern Army Group The Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) was a NATO military formation comprising four Western European Army Corps, during the Cold War as part of NATO's forward defence in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Army Group headquarters was established on ...

(NORTHAG). The corps headquarters was initially established at Yser Caserne,

Lüdenscheid Lüdenscheid () is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Sauerland region. Geography Lüdenscheid is located on the saddle of the watershed between the Lenne and Volme rivers which ...

, on 15 October 1946. Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Piron took command in November 1946. Corps headquarters moved to Haelen Caserne, Junkersdorf,

Lindenthal, Cologne Lindenthal ( , ) is a borough of the City of Cologne in Germany. It includes the quarters Braunsfeld, Junkersdorf, Klettenberg, Lindenthal, Lövenich, Müngersdorf, Sülz, Weiden and Widdersdorf. It has about 153,000 inhabitants (as of Decem ...

, in 1948. During Exercise Battle Royal in September 1954, the Corps consisted of 1 (BE) Infantry Division and 16 (BE) Armoured Division with 1 Canadian Brigade and 46 Parachute Brigade ( 16th Airborne Division (United Kingdom)) under command. The corps' 14th and 20th artillery battalions were supported by the 4th U.S. Army Field Artillery Detachment. The detachment was co-located with the Belgian battalions, in quarters across the street from the Belgian Houthulst Kaserne, on Langenwiedenweg Strasse,

Werl Werl (; Westphalian: ''Wiärl'') is a town located in the district of Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Werl is easily accessible because it is located between the Sauerland, Münsterland, and the Ruhr Area. The Hellweg road ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. In 1960 the 1st and 16th divisions were transformed into mechanised divisions of the "Landcent" type. That year, 1st Division at Bensberg consisted of 1st Infantry Brigade (Siegen), 7th Brigade (Spich), and 18th Armoured Brigade (Euskirchen), and 16th Armoured Division consisted of 17th Armoured Brigade (Duren), 16th Infantry Brigade (Ludenscheid) and 4th Infantry Brigade (Soest). In 1966 the Belgian Army's active force was mechanised, and the force was reduced to two active-duty two-brigade divisions (in 1985, the 16th in Germany with the 4th Mechanised Brigade at Soest, and the 17th Armoured Brigade at

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region. The university town (nearly 20,000 students in the 2018–2019 winter semest ...

, and the 1st in Belgium with the 1st Mechanised Brigade at Bourg Leopold and the 7th Mechanised Brigade at Marche, in the Ardennes region.) In 1985 there were also two reserve brigades, the 10th Mechanised and 12th Motorised. In 1995, the corps merged with the 1st Mechanised Division and Paracommando Brigade to become the "Intervention Force".Museum BSD
/ref> The corps' HQ was relocated from Germany back into Belgium in 1996.

References

External links

*http://www.museum-bsd.de/museum-bsd/de/index.htm Army units and formations of Belgium

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Military units and formations disestablished in 1995 Military units and formations of Belgium in World War II

World War II

Post-war service

See also

References

Further reading

External links