The Belgian Forces in Germany ( or FBA, , BSD) was the name of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

's army of occupation in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Lasting between 1946 and 2002, the army corps-strength FBA-BSD formed part of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

force guarding Western Europe against

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. At its height, 40,000 soldiers were serving with the unit with several thousand civilians also living in the Belgian zone around

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

History

In the aftermath of

, the Belgian Army of Occupation (''Armée belge d'occupation'', or ABO; ''Belgische Bezettingsleger'', BBL) was deployed to

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

alongside other forces from the former Western Allies. Belgian units were sent to the southernmost section of the British occupation zone in the region between

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, Soest,

Siegen Siegen () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, 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), Arnsberg region. The university town (n ...

, and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. From 1 April 1946, there were three infantry brigades present from the

Belgian Army The Land Component (, ), historically and commonly still referred to as the Belgian Army (, ), is the Land warfare, 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 ...

. Headquarters were initially established in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. Although allowed a limited degree of autonomy, the territory remained under the exclusive control of the British with whom relations were sometimes tense. An agreement signed in December 1949 provided more autonomy and officially recognised a "sector" for Belgian forces. After the foundation of the

(May 1949), the occupation role officially came to an end with the ratification of the Bonn–Paris conventions (May 1955). Amid the escalation of the

, the strategic importance of West Germany became obvious for

. The Belgian Forces in Germany (''Forces belges en Allemagne'' or FBA, ''Belgische strijdkrachten in Duitsland'', BSD), now renamed, changed from being an "army of occupation" to being an "army of protection" guarding a -wide strip of German territory against possible attack by the

. It was assigned to NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) and Belgium enjoyed ''de jure'' equality with other NATO member states. At its height, 40,000 Belgian soldiers were stationed in Germany and a total of 70,000 Belgian nationals lived in the Belgian sector. At the end of the Cold War in November 1989, there were still 24,000 soldiers deployed in West Germany. A large number of those who served were conscripts deployed to the force as part of their national service. The large number of Belgian citizens, both soldiers and their families, led the Belgian sector to be nicknamed the "tenth

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

" (''dixième province'') of Belgium. Over the course of the Belgian occupation, hundreds of thousands of Belgian citizens lived in the area with their families and various civilian institutions such as schools were established. Plans for the evacuation of families in event of war were also drawn up. At the end of the Cold War, the Belgian government launched a plan to restructure the entire Belgian Army between 2000 and 2015. Belgian troops began a period of staged withdrawal designed "Reforbel". The final Belgian barracks ( Troisdorf-Spich) was shut on 31 August 2004. Some soldiers remained in Vogelsang Camp, across the frontier, until 2005. 450 "mixed" Belgian-German families opted to remain in Germany after the military withdrawal. Today a museum in Soest, Germany is dedicated to the history of the FBA-BSD. The Royal Museum of the Armed Forces in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

held a temporary exhibition on the subject, entitled "Belgian soldiers in Germany, 1945–2002", in 2011.

Structure

The 1st Belgian Army Corps was initially based in Cologne and included, from 1951: * 1st Infantry Division * 16th Armoured Division * 4th Infantry Division The latter remained in Belgium but was officially disbanded in 1960. It was also assigned on a war footing the 2nd and 3rd infantry divisions from 1952.

References

External links

* * {{cite web, title=Musée des Forces Belges en Allemagne, url=http://www.museum-bsd.de/museum-bsd/fr/index.htm, publisher=www.museum-bsd.de, accessdate=10 January 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420124614/http://www.museum-bsd.de/museum-bsd/fr/index.htm, archive-date=20 April 2012, url-status=usurped Allied occupation of Germany Military units and formations established in 1946 Military units and formations disestablished in 2002 Military history of Belgium 1945 establishments in Germany 2002 disestablishments in Germany 1945 establishments in Belgium 2002 disestablishments in Belgium Belgium–Germany military relations Cold War military history of Belgium

History

Structure

See also

References

Further reading

External links