Lieutenant-General Baron Albert Crahay (9 June 1903 – 19 October 1991) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

soldier and historian. He is known particularly as the commander of the Belgian contingent in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and of the Belgian army of occupation in Germany.

Career

Born in

Ixelles (French, ) or ( Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the munic ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 1903, Crahay entered the

École Militaire École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savo ...

as an artillery cadet in 1921. Graduating in 1923, he subsequently studied at the École d'Application and the École de Guerre where he gained a

brevet d'état-major A ''Brevet d'état-major'' (French) or ''Staf Brevet'' (Dutch), both literally "General Staff Brevet", is a form of military distinction in France and Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Bel ...

. He became a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

in 1936 and was still serving on the General Staff during the German invasion of Belgium in 1940. Crahay was held as a prisoner of war in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

for the duration of

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 ...

. Returning to Belgium in 1945, Crahay took a teaching post in the military academy. In 1950, at the outbreak of the

, he volunteered to serve in the first Belgian contingent and was given command of the unit. He played an important role during the

Battle of the Imjin River The Battle of the Imjin River ( fil, Labanan sa Ilog Imjin), also known as the Battle of Solma-ri ( ko, 설마리 전투) or Battle of Gloster Hill () in South Korea, or as Battle of Xuemali () in China, took place 22–25 April 1951 during t ...

in 1951, before handing over command at the end of the year. After Korea, Crahay returned to teaching at the military academy in Belgium. In 1958, he was given command of the 16th Armoured Division, a Belgian unit in

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 ...

, and, in 1960, was chosen to take overall command of the

Belgian Forces in Germany The Belgian Forces in Germany (french: Forces belges en Allemagne or FBA, nl, Belgische strijdkrachten in Duitsland, BSD) was the name of Belgium's army of occupation in West Germany after World War II. Lasting between 1946 and 2002, the army cor ...

. He retired in 1964 as a Lieutenant-General. In retirement, Crahay chaired the ''comité interministériel de l’eau'' between 1969 and 1983. He wrote several memoires and books on Belgian military history and was made a baron in 1983.

Authography

*''Les Belges en Corée, 1951-1955'' (Brussels: La Renaissance du Livre, 1966) *''L'Armée Belge entre les Deux Guerres'' (Brussels: Musin, 1978) *''Le roi et la défense du pays de 1831 à nos jours'' (Braine-L'Alleud: J.M. Collet, 1987) *''Une vie au XX^e siècle'' (Braine-L'Alleud: J.M. Collet, 1988) *''Le Général Van Overstraeten "vice-roi" en 1940'' (Braine-L'Alleud: J.M. Collet, 1990)

External links

Crahay, Baron Albert
at Ars-Morendi.

at ''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, "The Evening") is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. It is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in Belgium, competing ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Crahay, Albert Belgian generals 1903 births 1991 deaths People from Ixelles Belgian prisoners of war in World War II Belgian military personnel of the Korean War 20th-century Belgian historians Royal Military Academy (Belgium) alumni