The Belgian Military Organisation of Resistance (french: Organisation Militaire Belge de Résistance) or OMBR was a group within the Belgian resistance in German-occupied Belgium during

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 opposin ...

. It remained a reasonably small organisation throughout the war, comprising a total of 3,112 men and women. The acronym of the group was deliberately chosen as a

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...

of the French word ''ombre'' meaning "shadow".

History

Founded in 1940, the group only adopted the acronym OMBR in July 1942.''Le livre d'or de la Résistance belge'', publié par le Ministère de la Défense nationale, Les éditions Leclercq, Bruxelles, 1949, p.144 The group's motto was "Better to die than to betray"''« Mieux vaut mourir que trahir »'' and its vow "I swear to be faithful to the country, to observe the laws and constitution of the Belgian people, to obey my superiors and never to betray."''Le livre d'or de la Résistance belge'', publié par le Ministère de la Défense nationale, Les éditions Leclercq, Bruxelles, 1949, p.147

Notable members

* Herman Bodson – Belgian mineralogist, later author of a number of books about the Belgian resistance. *G. Allaert, Commandant of the OMBR in 1944

Notes

References

Belgian resistance groups World War II resistance movements {{Belgium-mil-stub