# 1944 in Belgium

Events in the year 1944 in Belgium.

## Incumbents

* Monarch: Leopold III
* Regent: Prince Charles (from 21 September)
* Prime Minister: Hubert Pierlot

## Events
### January

* 14 January – Occupying German authorities order evacuation of civilians from the Belgian coast.$^{:857}$
* 16 January – Groupe G resistance organisation dynamites pylons to sabotage electricity supply.$^{:857}$

### February

* 5 February – Occupying authorities streamline procedure for death sentences on charges of "terrorism".$^{:857}$

### April

* 11 April – Heavy allied bombing of industrial targets and transport infrastructure in Belgian cities.$^{:858}$
* 19 April – Mechelen and Leuven bombed.$^{:858}$

### May

* 21 May – Cardinal Van Roey appeals to Allies to cease bombing civilian targets in Belgium.$^{:857}$

### June

* 7 June – Leopold III, under house arrest since 1940, deported to Germany together with his wife and children.$^{:858}$

### July

* 18 July – Military occupation under General Alexander von Falkenhausen replaced by Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France under Reichskommissar Josef Grohé.$^{:858}$
* 22 July – Delegates of the Belgian government in exile are among the founding signatories of the Bretton Woods system establishing the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
* 27 July – Collaborationist leaders Jef van de Wiele and Hendrik Elias meet with Heinrich Himmler.$^{:857}$

### August

* 18 August
** Courcelles Massacre in retaliation for the assassination of the collaborationist mayor of Charleroi by the Belgian Resistance.$^{:859}$
** Over 330 killed and 600 injured in American mistaken bombing of Namur.
* 31 August – Many Belgian collaborators flee to Germany.$^{:857}$

### September

* 2 September – Allied ground forces enter Belgium.
* 4 September – Liberation of Brussels and Antwerp; Independent Belgian Brigade (Brigade Piron) enters Brussels.$^{:858-9}$
* 5 September – Customs Convention between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed.
* 7 September – Liberation of Liège.$^{:857}$
* 8 September – Battle of Geel begins (to 23 September)
* 15 September – Cinemas reopened in liberated parts of Belgium.$^{:857}$
* 21 September – Prince Charles, Count of Flanders appointed Prince Regent in the king's absence.$^{:860}$
* 27 September – Government in exile becomes government of national unity.$^{:857}$

### October

* 2 October – Battle of the Scheldt begins (to 8 November)
* 12 October – First V-1 flying bomb attack on Belgium.$^{:857}$

### November

* 1 November – Operation Infatuate launched
* 3 November – Last German forces in Belgium surrender at Knokke.$^{:860}$
* 8 November – Belgian Parliament lifts parliamentary privilege of members of collaborationist organisations.$^{:857}$
* 18 November – Resistance groups disarmed.$^{:857}$
* 25 November – Resistance groups demonstrate in Parliament to demand official recognition.$^{:860}$
* 28 November – Allied shipping starts to use the Port of Antwerp.$^{:857}$

### December

* 16 December – German counter-offensive into Belgium: Battle of the Bulge begins with Battle of Lanzerath Ridge, Battle of Losheim Gap, Battle of St. Vith and Battle of Elsenborn Ridge
* 17 December – Malmedy massacre
* 20 December – Siege of Bastogne begins (to 27 December)

## Births

* 22 March – Alfons Thijs, historian (died 2014)
* 31 March – Jean-Marie André, scientist (died 2023)
* 5 April – Willy Planckaert, road bicycle racer
* 1 June – Freddy Herbrand, Olympic athlete
* 8 October – Maurice Bodson, politician (died 2020)
* 21 December – Jacques Beurlet, footballer (died 2020)

## Deaths

* 14 January – Walthère Dewé, resistance leader, shot in the street
* 28 January – Aloïs Biebuyck, officer in the First World War
* 23 February – Leo Baekeland, chemical engineer
* 3 March – Paul-Émile Janson, liberal politician (Buchenwald concentration camp)
* 21 March – Pierre de Caters, aviator
* 12 April – Emmanuel de Blommaert, Olympic rider
* 10 May – Adolphe De Meulemeester, colonial official
* 27 May – Adrienne Barbanson, musical patron
* 12 August – Suzanne Spaak, resister
* 17 August – Oswald Englebin, collaborationist mayor of Charleroi, assassinated
* 20 August – Hippolyte De Kempeneer, film producer
* 7 October – Abraham Leon, Trotskyist theorist (Auschwitz concentration camp)
* 1 December – Balthazar De Beukelaer, Olympic fencer
* 11 December – Joseph Maréchal, Thomist philosopher