Belgium’s war began as a fiasco and ended as a tragedy. The complete lack of cooperation between the military forces of neutral Belgium and their French and British counterparts up to the very day of the German invasion produced endless muddles as the armies tried to form a line of defense against the invaders.
A unit of the British 3rd Division, led by General Bernard Montgomery, was denied admittance to Belgium on 10 May, the first day of the German attack, when a frontier guard said that it would need proper documentation. A British army truck then crashed the barrier and the soldiers moved onward. At its allotted position, in the defenses of Brussels, this same division found its way blocked by Belgian units whose commander objected to the British presence. As negotiations about this were beginning, firing started as Belgian soldiers mis-identified the British, thinking that they were German parachutists.
The original plan to defend the line of the river Dyle had been abandoned when the Germans proved unstoppable. A general withdrawal was delayed while the Belgian King insisted that his army must remain in position to cover Brussels. Eventually he agreed. On the night of 16/17 May the Allies retreated.
Although King Leopold was eventually to find himself blamed for the failures of his army, Belgian soldiers fought well for seventeen days until almost the whole country was overrun by the Germans. It was not until Monday, 27 May, that messages from the French liaison officer at Belgian GHQ reported that they had “abandoned the struggle.”
The King sent an envoy to the Germans to propose that a ceasefire should commence at midnight that same night.
World History
