page_title: Battle of the Lys (1940)
section_title: Near-collapse and surrender of the Belgian Army
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Lys (1940) / Battle / Near-collapse and surrender of the Belgian Army
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Heeresfilmstelle Negativ Nr. P.K. 58/12 Aufnahme am 29.05.40 Ort: Brügge, Marktpaltz Land: Belgien Die Entwaffnung der belgischen Armee Information added by Wikimedia users.English: Vickers Utility Tractor (VUT) of the Belgian Army
context_page_description: The Battle of the Lys was a major battle between Belgian and German forces during the German Invasion of Belgium of 1940 and the final major battle fought by Belgian troops before their surrender on 28 May. It was the bloodiest of the 18 Days' Campaign. The battle was named after the river Leie, where the battlefield was situated.
context_section_description: The Belgian Army began to collapse on 27 May. The railways were out of service, the roads were clogged with 1.5 million refugees (in addition to the 800,000 people already living in the area), ammunition and food were running low, and no fresh troops were available. The Belgians began destroying their artillery as they exhausted their munitions and retreated. By 11:00, the line had been breached north of Maldegem, in the center near Ursel, and to the right near Thielt and Roeselare. Bruges was the only major Belgian city not yet taken by the Germans. At 16:00, the Chasseurs Ardennais were forced to abandon Vinkt, leaving the Germans in control. They had lost 39 men while managing to kill 170 Germans. In the subsequent Vinkt massacre, 86 civilians in the village were killed by vengeful German troops. However, a counterattack by the 4th Carabiners Cyclists at Knesselaere yielded 120–200 German prisoners.
  At around the same time, the Belgian Command came to accept that: "(1) From the national point of view, the Belgian Army had carried out its task; it had resisted to the limit of its capacity; its units were unable to continue the fight. There could be no retreat to the Yser; it would do more to destroy the units than the fighting in progress; it would increase the congestion of the Allied forces to the highest pitch; (2) from the international point of view, the dispatch of an envoy to ask for terms for the cessation of hostilities would have the advantage of allowing the Allies the night of the 27th–28th and part of the morning of the 28th, an interval that, if the fighting were continued, could be gained only at the cost of the complete destruction of the Army."
  The Belgian army's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Oscar Michiels, recommended that a representative be sent to the Germans to negotiate a ceasefire. At 17:00, Leopold decided to send the army's deputy chief of staff, Major General Olivier Derousseaux, to the headquarters of the German 18th Army. Two French Army divisions were withdrawn via truck towards Dunkirk while Belgian flags and battle standards were hidden for safekeeping. A final order of retreat was issued from the Belgian Army headquarters at 20:00. General Derousseaux returned at 22:00 hours with the reply "The Führer demands that arms be laid down unconditionally." King Leopold was disappointed by the demand, but acknowledged that there were no options for the Belgian Army. At 23:00, with the full support of his staff, he accepted the demand and agreed to a ceasefire at 04:00.
  The Belgians laid down their arms at 04:00 on 28 May. Fighting continued at the Roeselare-Ypres line until 06:00, when the troops stationed there finally received the order to capitulate. Leopold made one final proclamation to his men:
  "Plunged unexpectedly into a war of unparalleled violence, you have fought courageously to defend your homeland step by step. Exhausted by an uninterrupted struggle against an enemy very much superior in numbers and material, we have been forced to surrender. History will relate that the Army did its duty to the full. Our Honour is safe. This violent fighting, these sleepless nights, cannot have been in vain. I enjoin you not to be disheartened, but to bear yourselves with dignity. Let your attitude and your discipline continue to win you the esteem of the foreigner. I shall not leave you in our misfortune, and I shall watch over your future and that of your families. Tomorrow we will set to work with the firm intention of raising our country from its ruins."
caption: Belgian weapons discarded in Bruges after the surrender of 28 May 1940
exif: {}