Légion Belge (resistance)
The Secret Army ( or AS, , GL) was an organisation within the Belgian Resistance, active during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. With more than 54,000 members, it was by far the largest resistance group active in the country. Founded in August 1940 as the Belgian Legion, the Secret Army changed its name on a number of occasions during its existence, adopting its final appellation in June 1944. The Secret Army incorporated many former officers from the defeated Belgian Army and, politically, was dominated by right-wing conservatives and royalists. Although sometimes strained, the Secret Army enjoyed the closest relations of any large resistance movement with the Belgian government-in-exile. Foundation The origin of the Secret Army can be traced back to shortly after the Belgian surrender after the German invasion of 10–28 May 1940. A number of career officers from the defeated Belgian Army joined together to create the first small resistance organisatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Belgian Resistance
The Belgian Resistance (, ) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many separate organizations, divided by region and political stances. The resistance included both men and women from both Wallonia, Walloon and Flanders, Flemish parts of the country. Aside from sabotage of military infrastructure in the country and Assassination, assassinations of collaborators, these groups also published large numbers of Underground press, underground newspapers, gathered intelligence and maintained various escape networks that helped Allies of World War II, Allied Airman, airmen trapped behind enemy lines escape from German-occupied Europe. During the war, it is estimated that approximately five percent of the national population were involved in some form of resistance activity, while some estimates put the number of res ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. SOE personnel operated in all territories occupied or attacked by the Axis powers, except where demarcation lines were agreed upon with Britain's principal Allies of World War II, Allies, the United States and the Soviet Union. SOE made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled more than 13,000 people, of whom 3,200 were women. Both men and women served as agents in Axis-occupied countries. The organisation was dissolved in 1946. A memorial to those who served in SOE was unveiled in 1996 on the wall of the west cloister of Westminster Abbey by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Queen Mother, and in 2009 on t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Military Units And Formations Established In 1944
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a distinct military uniform. They may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of a military is usually defined as defence of their state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms "armed forces" and "military" are often synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include other paramilitary forces such as armed police. Beyond warfare, the military may be employed in additional sanctioned and non-sanctioned functions within the state, including internal security threats, crowd control, promotion of political agendas, emergency services and reconstruction, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Belgian Resistance Groups
{{Disambiguation ...
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 language formerly spoken in Gallia Belgica *Belgian Dutch or Flemish, a variant of Dutch *Belgian French, a variant of French *Belgian horse (other), various breeds of horse *Belgian waffle, in culinary contexts * SS ''Belgian'', a cargo ship in service with F Leyland & Co Ltd from 1919 to 1934 *''The Belgian'', a 1917 American silent film See also * *Belgica (other) *Belgic (other) Belgic may refer to: * an adjective referring to the Belgae, an ancient confederation of Celto-Germanic tribes * a rarer adjective referring to the Low Countries or to Belgium * , several ships with the name * Belgic ware, a type of pottery * Bel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Verdinaso
Verdinaso (''Verbond van Dietsche Nationaal-Solidaristen'', ), sometimes rendered as Dinaso, was a small fascist political movement active in Belgium and, to a lesser extent, the Netherlands between 1931 and 1941. Verdinaso was founded by Joris Van Severen, Jef François, Wies Moens, and Emiel Thiers on 6 October 1931 at a meeting in the Hôtel Richelieu in Ghent. It emerged from the Flemish Movement although, under Van Severen's leadership, it moved towards a novel authoritarian political ideology, which he referred to as National Solidarism. The organisation had initially called for the reunification of Flanders with the Netherlands in a Greater Netherlands (''Dietschland'') but discarded this ideal in 1934 in favour of a broader corporatist ideology calling for the establishment of a federated authoritarian polity on the model of the Burgundian Netherlands which would incorporate the whole of Belgium and possibly Luxembourg. The party remained small but succeeded in attrac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jef Van Bilsen
Anton Arnold Jozef "Jef" Van Bilsen (13 June 1913, in Diest – 22 July 1996, in Kraainem), usually cited as A. A. J. Van Bilsen in his academic publications, was a Belgian professor who, in December 1955, proposed a 30-year scheme (known as the "Van Bilsen Plan") for creating a self-sufficient independent state out of the Belgian Congo. Before World War II, Van Bilsen was an active member of the extreme-right Verdinaso party and, in 1942, became a member of the Belgian Resistance. After the war, he travelled in colonial Africa. Van Bilsen is best known for devising a plan for the long-term independence of the Belgian Congo in the 1950s. The timetable, outlined in December 1955 and in a pamphlet entitled ''Un Plan de Trente Ans pour l'émancipation politique de l'Afrique Belge'' (1955–56), called for a gradual change over 30 years, the time he estimated it would take to create an educated elite to administrate the new Congo. His plan never came to fruition after Congolese natio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Royalist Movement
The National Royalist Movement ( (MNR), Dutch: ''Nationale Koningsgezinde Beweging'' or ''Nationale Koninklijke Beweging'' (NKB)) was a group within the Belgian Resistance in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. It was active chiefly in Brussels and Flanders and was the most politically right-wing of the major Belgian resistance groups. Activities during World War II The MNR was founded in the town of Aarschot in German-occupied Belgium soon after the Belgian defeat of May 1940 by former members of the far-right Catholic, authoritarian Rexist Party. As an organisation, it had a strongly nationalist stance and was led by Eugène Mertens de Wilmars, a former admirer of the fascist, Leon Degrelle. The MNR wanted Belgium to become an authoritarian dictatorship under the rule of King Leopold III. In July 1941, the German occupation authorities became suspicious of the MNR and it was forced into hiding. After the arrest of Mertens de Wilmars in May 1942, it became over ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fusilier Battalions (Belgium)
The term fusilier battalions (, ) denotes 57 separate military formations which were raised in Belgium to fight alongside the Western Allies in the final months of World War II. Unlike the Free Belgian Forces which were raised in exile, the fusilier battalions were raised within Belgium after its Liberation from German occupation in September 1944. In total, 57 battalions (each numbered between 1-39 and 45-62) with a total of 53,700 men were raised between October 1944 and June 1945. Origins and creation The concept of the fusilier battalions originated in plans by the Belgian government in exile to rebuild the Belgian Army once its national territory was liberated from German occupation. In June 1943, they created a formal plan to raise 18 battalions of soldiers in Belgium once the territory was regained. The core of the new force would be six battalions of front-line infantry to augment the existing Independent Belgian Brigade, known popularly as the "Piron Brigade" which ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Port Of Antwerp
The port of Antwerp is the port of the city of Antwerp, Belgium. It is located in Flanders, mainly in the province of Antwerp, but also partially in East Flanders. It is a seaport in the heart of Europe accessible to capesize ships. It is Europe's second-largest seaport, after that of Rotterdam. Antwerp stands at the upper end of the tidal estuary of the Scheldt. The estuary is navigable by ships of more than 100,000 Gross Tons as far as 80 km inland. Like the Port of Hamburg, the Port of Antwerp's inland location provides a more central location in Europe than the majority of North Sea ports. Antwerp's docks are connected to the hinterland by rail, road, and river and canal waterways. As a result, the port of Antwerp has become one of Europe's largest seaports, ranking second behind Rotterdam by total freight shipped. Its international rankings vary from 11th to 20th ( AAPA). In 2012, the Port of Antwerp handled 14,220 sea trade ships (190.8 million tons of cargo, 53 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Witte Brigade
The White Brigade (, ) was a Belgian resistance group founded on 23 July 1940 in Antwerp by Marcel Louette, who was nicknamed "Fidelio". The group was originally known as "De Geuzengroep" and changed its name again after the Liberation of Belgium to Witte Brigade-Fidelio as the term "white brigade" had emerged as a generic term to describe the resistance. The name was chosen in opposition to the "Black Brigade", a collaborator group led by SS-Untersturmführer Reimond Tollenaere, who was responsible for the propaganda of pro-German Flemish National League. The Witte Brigade was based in Antwerp but had smaller branches in Gent, Lier, Aalst, Brussels, Waasland, Wallonia and in the coastal region. Activities During the Second World War Belgium was occupied by Germany. While the fascist group known as the Black Brigade were collaborators with the Germans, they were opposed by the underground ''Witte Brigade''. Important activities of the ''Witte Brigade'' were distributing ant ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Front De L'Indépendance
The Independent Front (, , FI; , , OF) was a left-wing faction of the Belgian Resistance in German-occupied Belgium in World War II. It was founded in March 1941 by Dr Albert Marteaux of the Communist Party of Belgium, Father André Roland, and Fernand Demany, another communist. The aim of the organisation was to unite Belgian resistance groups of all opinions and political leanings; nonetheless the only political party that was affiliated as such was the Communist Party. The FI operated a significant propaganda, social and paramilitary organization, in addition to its military and sabotage functions and operated in competition with the larger far-right Secret Army. History Activities The FI established sabotage operations, escape routes and a false document service, and distributed 250 different underground publications. This essential part of the war, in the area of information, found a culmination of sorts in the publication by the ''Front'' on 9 November 1943 of '' Faux ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day (after the military term), it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on the day selected for D-Day was not ideal, and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and time of day, that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |