German occupation of Belgium during World War II The German occupation of Belgium ( , ) in World War II started with the Belgian surrender on 28 May 1940 and lasted until its liberation by Allied forces between September 1944 and February 1945 . It was the second time that Belgium had been occupied by Germany in 25 years . After its successful invasion in May 1940 , a German military government was established in Belgium , bringing the territory under the direct rule of the . Thousands of Belgian soldiers became prisoners of war , and many were not released until 1945 . The German administration in Belgium juggled the competing objectives of maintaining order while also extracting material from the territory to use in their war effort . They were assisted by the Belgian civil service , which believed that limited co - operation with the occupiers would result in the least damage to Belgian interests . Belgian Fascist parties , established before the war , in both Flanders and Wallonia collaborated much more actively with the occupiers , helping to recruit Belgians for the German army and were given more power themselves by the end of the war . Food and fuel were tightly rationed , and all official news was closely censored . Belgian civilians living near possible targets such as railway junctions were also in danger from Allied aerial bombing . From 1942 , the occupation became more repressive . Systematic persecution and deportation of Jews to concentration camps began , as did repressive measures against potential political opposition . Despite vigorous protests , the Germans began deporting Belgian civilians to work in factories in Germany . At the same time , the resistance , which had been formed in late 1940 , expanded vastly . From 1944 , the and Nazi Party began to gain much greater control in Belgium , particularly after the military government was replaced in July by the , a Nazi Civil Administration . In December 1944 , the territory was incorporated only " de jure " into the " Greater German Reich " as the new Reichsgau e of Flanders , Wallonia and Brussels and with its leaders already in exile in Germany , territory was liberated soon afterwards in February 1945 . In total , 40 , 690 Belgians ( over half of them Jews ) were killed during the occupation and around 8 % of the country ' s pre - war GDP was destroyed or removed to Germany . Background . Belgium had pursued a policy of neutrality since its independence , successfully avoiding becoming a belligerent in the Franco - Prussian War ( 1870 – 1 ) . In World War I , Belgium had been invaded by the German Empire . During the subsequent occupation , labeled the " Rape of Belgium " , the Allies had encouraged Belgian workers to resist the occupiers through non - compliance , leading to large - scale reprisals against Belgian civilians by the German army . As political tensions escalated in the years before the World War II , the Belgian government again announced its intention to remain neutral in the event of war in Europe . The military was reorganized into a defensive force and the country left several international military treaties it had joined in the aftermath of World War I . Construction of defenses in the east of the country was also begun . When France and Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 , Belgium continued to remain strictly neutral although mobilizing its reserves . Without warning , the Germans invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940 . During the following 18 Days ' Campaign , the Belgian army was pushed back into a pocket in the north - west of Belgium and surrendered on 28 May . The government fled to France ( and later the United Kingdom ) and established an official government in exile . Administration and governance . Shortly after the surrender of the Belgian army on 28 May 1940 , the ( a " Military Administration " , covering the whole of Belgium and the French region of Nord - Pas - de - Calais ) was created with Brussels as administrative center and placed under the control of General Alexander von Falkenhausen , an aristocrat and career soldier . Under Von Falkenhausen ' s command , the German administration had two military units , the ( " Field Gendarmerie " , part of the ) and the " Gestapo " ( the " Secret State Police " , part of the SS ) , at its disposal . The section of the Military Government that dealt with civil matters , the , commanded by Eggert Reeder , was responsible for all economic , social and political matters in the territory . Before leaving the country in 1940 , the Belgian government had installed a panel of senior civil - servants , the so - called " Committee of Secretary - Generals " , to administer the territory in the absence of elected ministers . The Committee was retained by the Germans during the occupation and was responsible for implementing demands made by the . The Committee hoped to stop the Germans becoming involved in the day - to - day administration of the territory , allowing it to maintain a degree of national autonomy and independence . The Committee also hoped to be able to prevent the implementation of more radical German policies , like forced labour and deportation . In practice , however , the Committee merely enabled the Germans to implement their policies more efficiently , using the civil service , than the Military Government could have done by force . In July 1944 , the military administration was replaced by a civilian government ( ) , led by Josef Grohé . The territory was divided into , considerably increasing the power of the Nazi Party and SS in the territory . By 1944 the Germans were increasingly forced to share power , as day - to - day administration was increasingly delegated to Belgian civil authorities and organisations . Leopold III . Leopold III had been made King of the Belgians in 1934 , after the death of his father in a mountaineering accident , and had been one of the key exponents of the policy of neutrality before the war . Under the Belgian Constitution , the King played an important political role and served as commander - in - chief of the military , personally commanding the Belgian army during the 18 Days ' Campaign of May 1940 . On 28 May 1940 , the King personally surrendered to the Germans alongside his soldiers . This violated the constitution , because it directly contradicted the orders of his ministers , who wanted him to follow the example of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and flee to France or England to rally resistance . His refusal to leave Belgium undermined his political legitimacy in the eyes of many Belgians and was viewed as a sign of his support for the new order . He was denounced by the Belgian Prime Minister , Hubert Pierlot , and declared " incompetent to reign " by the government in exile . Leopold was keen to find an accommodation with Germany in 1940 , hoping that Belgium would remain as a unified and semi - autonomous state within a German - dominated Europe . In November 1940 , Leopold visited Hitler in Berchtesgaden where he asked for Belgian prisoners of war in Germany to be freed , as part of this plan . An agreement was not reached and Leopold returned to Belgium . His meeting with Hitler fueled the belief that Leopold , who had expressed anti - Semitic views before the war , was collaborating with the Nazis rather than truly defending his country ' s interests . For the rest of the war , Leopold was held under house - arrest in the Palace of Laeken . In 1941 , while still incarcerated , he married Mary Lilian Baels , undermining his popularity . Despite his position , he remained prominent in the occupied territory and coins and stamps produced during the occupation continued to carry his portrait or monogramme . While imprisoned , he sent a letter to Adolf Hitler in 1942 credited with saving an estimated 500 , 000 Belgian women and children from forced deportation to munitions factories in Germany . In January 1944 , Leopold was moved to Germany where he remained for the rest of the war . Despite his position , Leopold remained a figurehead for right - wing resistance movements and Allied propaganda portrayed him as a martyr , sharing his country ' s fate . Despite attempts by the government in exile to pursue Leopold to defect to the Allied side , he consistently refused to publicly support for the Allies or to denounce German actions , like the deportation of Belgian workers . After the war , allegations that Leopold ' s surrender had been an act of collaboration provoked a political crisis , known as the Royal Question , about whether he could return to the throne , which ultimately ended with his abdication in 1951 . Life in occupied Belgium . Living standards in occupied Belgium decreased significantly from pre - war levels . Wages remained stagnant , while the occupying authorities trebled the amount of money in circulation , leading to rampant inflation . The press was tightly controlled by the occupying authorities . The military government controlled newspapers of what could be published and what news they could print . Newspapers of pro - Nazi political parties continued to be printed , along with so - called " stolen " newspapers like or , which were published without their owners ' permission . Despite the tight censorship and propagandist content , the circulation of these newspapers remained high , as did the sales of party newspapers like and . Many civilians also listened to regular broadcasts from England , so - called , despite it being officially prohibited from December 1940 . Most Belgians continued their pre - war professions into the occupation . The celebrated Belgian cartoonist Hergé , whose work since 1928 had contributed to the popularisation of the comic strip , continued to produce his " Adventures of Tintin " under the occupation , completing three volumes , published in the pro - German newspaper . Rationing . An emergency system of rationing had been planned by the Belgian government before the war , and was implemented on the day of the German invasion . Since Belgium was reliant on imports of food for its survival , the German occupying authority was able to use it as a bargaining tool . The amount of food permitted to Belgian citizens was roughly two - thirds of that allowed to comparable German citizens and was amongst the lowest in occupied Europe . On average , each Belgian lost between five and seven kilograms of weight in 1940 alone because of the scarcity of food . A Belgian citizen was entitled to of bread each day . In addition , each was allowed of butter , sugar , meat and of potatoes each month . Later in the war , even this was not always available and many civilians only survived by growing vegetables in allotments or fishing . Because of the tight rationing , a black market in food and other consumer goods emerged . Buying food on the black market was extremely expensive . Prices could be 650 % higher than in legal shops and rose consistently during the war . Because of the big profits which could be made , the black market spawned large and well - organized networks . Numerous members of the German administration were involved in the black market , stealing military or official supplies and reselling them for a profit . Allied bombing . Occupied Belgium was targeted on numerous occasions by the Allied bombers from both the British RAF and American USAAF with sizable civilian casualties . In the early years of the occupation , Allied bombing took the form of small - scale attacks on specific targets , like the ports of Knokke and Zeebrugge , and on airfields . The Germans also encouraged the building of 6 , 000 air - raid shelter s between 1941 and 1942 , at a cost of 220 million francs . From 1943 , the Allies began targeting sites in urban areas . In a raid on the Erla Motor Works in the Belgian town of Mortsel ( near Antwerp ) in April 1943 , just two bombs dropped by the B - 17s of the U . S . 8th Air Force fell on the intended target . The remaining 24 tons of bombs fell on civilian areas of the town , killing 936 and injuring 1 , 340 more . During the preparation for D - Day in spring 1944 , the Allies launched the so - called " Transport Plan " , carrying out intensive bombing of railway junctions and transport networks across northern France and Belgium . Many of these targets were located in towns , near densely populated civilian areas , like La Louvière and Kortrijk in Belgium , which were bombed in March 1944 . Bombing of targets in Belgium increased as the Allies advanced westwards across France . In September 1944 , during the liberation , 9 , 750 Belgians were killed and 40 , 000 were injured in Allied bombing . The Allied policy was condemned by many leading figures within Belgium , including Cardinal van Roey , who appealed to Allied commanders " spare the private possessions of the citizens , as otherwise the civilised world will one day call to account those responsible for the terrible treatment dealt out to an innocent and loyal country . " Economic situation . The German government levied the costs of the military occupation on the Belgians through taxes , while also demanding " external occupation costs " ( or " Anti - Bolshevik charge " ) to support operations elsewhere . In total , Belgium was forced to pay nearly two - thirds of its national income for these charges , a figure equaling 5 . 7 billion Reichsmarks over the course of the occupation . In addition , the value of the Belgian franc was artificially suppressed , further increasing the size of the Anti - Bolshevik charge and benefitting German companies exporting to the occupied country . The considerable Belgian gold reserves , on which the Belga had been secured , were mostly transported to Britain , Canada and the United States before the German invasion . Over 198 tonnes , however , had been entrusted to the " Banque de France " before the war , and shipped to Dakar in French West Africa . Under the pro - German Vichy régime , the gold was seized by the Germans , who used it to buy munitions from neutral Switzerland and Sweden . Galopin Doctrine . Before fleeing in May 1940 , the Belgian government had established a body of important economic figures , under the leadership of Alexandre Galopin , known as the " Galopin Committee " . Galopin was the director of the giant " Société Générale de Belgique " ( SGB ) , a company which dominated the Belgian economy and controlled almost 40 % of the country ' s industrial production . The Committee was able to negotiate with the German authorities and was also in contact with the government in exile . Galopin pioneered a controversial policy , known as the " Galopin Doctrine " . The Doctrine decreed that Belgian companies would continue producing goods necessary for the Belgian population ( food , consumer goods etc . ) under the German occupiers , but refused to produce war materiel or anything which could be used in the German war effort . The policy hoped to prevent a repeat of the First World War , where the Allies had encouraged Belgian workers to passively resist the Germans by refusing to work . The Germans had instead deported Belgian workers and industrial machinery to German factories , benefitting their economy more . The policy also hoped to avoid an industrial decline which would have negative effects on the country ' s recovery after the war , however it was viewed as collaboration by many . Between 1941 and 1942 , the German authorities began to force Belgian businessmen to make an explicit choice between obeying the Doctrine ( and refusing to produce war materials , at risk of death ) and circumventing the doctrine as collaborators . Deportation and forced labour . Before 1941 , Belgian workers were able to volunteer to work in Germany and nearly 180 , 000 Belgians signed up , hoping for better pay and living conditions . About 3 , 000 Belgians joined the ( OT ) , and 4 , 000 more joined the paramilitary German supply corps , the ( NSKK ) . The numbers , however , proved insufficient . Despite the protestation of the Secretary - Generals , compulsory deportation of Belgian workers to Germany began in October 1942 . At the beginning of the scheme , Belgian firms were obliged to select 10 % of their work force , but from 1943 workers were conscripted by age class . Around 145 , 000 Belgians were conscripted and sent to Germany , most to work in manual jobs in industry or agriculture for the German war effort . Working conditions for forced workers in Germany were notoriously poor . Workers were paid little and worked long hours while those in German towns were also particularly vulnerable to Allied aerial bombing . The introduction of compulsory deportation forced 200 , 000 Belgian workers ( dubbed ) into hiding for fear of being conscripted . The who went underground were often aided by resistance organizations , like run by the which provided food and false papers , and many of the went on to enlist in resistance groups , swelling their numbers enormously from late 1942 . Belgian prisoners of war . After the Belgian defeat , 225 , 000 Belgian soldiers ( around 30 % of those mobilised in 1940 ) were taken prisoner of war ( POW ) and sent to ( Prisoner of war camps ) in Germany . The majority of those in captivity ( 225 , 000 ) were Flemish , with only 80 , 000 Walloons . Most were reservists , rather than professional soldiers , and were necessary for the functioning of the country ' s economy . As part of their Flamenpolitik , the Germans began repatriating Flemish prisoners of war in August 1940 . By February 1941 , 205 , 133 Flemish soldiers had been repatriated . Gradually , more prisoners were released , but 67 , 000 Belgian soldiers were still in captivity by 1945 . Many prisoners of war were forced to work in quarries or in agriculture and around 2 , 000 died in captivity . Repression . In the first year of the occupation , the German administration pursued a conciliatory policy towards the Belgian people in order to gain their support and co - operation . This policy was , in part , because there was little resistance activity and because the demands the Germans needed to place on Belgian civilians and businesses were relatively small on account of their military success . During the fighting in Belgium , however , there were incidents of massacres against Belgian civilians by German forces , notably the Vinkt Massacre . From 1941 , the regime became significantly more repressive . This was partly a result of the increasing demands on the German economy created by the invasion of the Soviet Union , as well as the decision to implement Nazi racial policies . From August 1941 , the Military Government announced that for every German murdered by the resistance , five Belgian civilian hostages would be executed . Although the OKW had advised a ratio of 50 civilians for every one German soldier killed , von Falkenhausen moderated the policy and decreed that the hostages be selected from political prisoners and criminals rather than civilians picked at random . Systematic persecution of minorities ( such as Jews , Roma and Freemasons ) began from 1942 , also coupled with much stricter repression of Belgian political dissent . Persecution of Jews and the Holocaust . At the start of the war , the population of Belgium was overwhelmingly Catholic . Jews made up the largest non - Christian population in the country , numbering between 70 – 75 , 000 out of a population of 8 million . Most lived in large towns and cities in Belgium , such as Antwerp and Brussels . The vast majority were recent immigrants to Belgium fleeing persecution in Germany and Eastern Europe and , as a result , only a small minority actually possessed Belgian citizenship . Shortly after the invasion of Belgium , the Military Government passed a series of anti - Jewish laws ( similar to the Vichy ) in October 1940 . The Committee of Secretary - Generals refused from the start to co - operate on passing any anti - Jewish measures and the Military Government seemed unwilling to pass further legislation . The German government began to seize Jewish - owned business and forced Jews out of positions in the civil service . In April 1941 , without orders from the German authorities , members of the and other Flemish fascists pillaged two synagogues in Antwerp and burned the house of the chief Rabbi of the town in the so - called " Antwerp Pogrom . " The Germans also created a in the country , the ( AJB ; " Association of Jews in Belgium " ) in which all Jews were required to inscribe . As part of the " Final Solution " from 1942 , the persecution of Belgian Jews escalated . From May 1942 , Jews were forced to wear yellow Star - of - David badges to mark them out in public . Using the registers compiled by the AJB , the Germans began deporting Jews to concentration camps built by Germans in occupied Poland . Jews chosen from the lists were required to turn up at the newly established Mechelen transit camp ; they were then deported by train to concentration camps at Auschwitz and Bergen - Belsen . Between August 1942 and July 1944 , around 25 , 000 Jews and 350 Roma were deported from Belgium ; more than 24 , 000 were killed before their camps were liberated by the Allies . Among them was the celebrated artist Felix Nussbaum . From 1942 and the introduction of the Star - of - David badges , opposition to the treatment of the Jews among the general population in Belgium grew . By the end of the occupation , more than 40 % of all Jews in Belgium were in hiding ; many of them in hid by gentile s and in particular Catholic priests and nuns . Some were helped by the organized resistance , such as the ( CDJ ) , which provided food and safe housing . Many of the Jews in hiding went on to join the armed resistance . The treatment of Jews was denounced by the senior Catholic priest in Belgium , Cardinal Jozef - Ernest van Roey , who described their treatment as " inhuman . " The had a notably large Jewish section in Brussels . In April 1943 , members of the CDJ attacked the twentieth rail convoy to Auschwitz and succeeded in rescuing many of the passengers . Political dissent . Because of the Nazi - Soviet Pact , signed in 1939 , the Communist Party was briefly tolerated in the early stages of the occupation . Coinciding with the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 however , the Germans rounded up a large number of Communists ( identified in police dossiers compiled before the war ) in an operation codenamed " Summer Solstice " . In September 1942 , the Germans arrested over 400 workers which they feared were plotting a large - scale strike action . Many important politicians who had opposed the Nazis before the war were arrested and deported to concentration camps in Germany and German occupied Poland , as part of the " " ( literally " Night and Fog " ) decree . Among them was the 71 - year old Paul - Émile Janson who had served as Prime Minister between 1937 and 1938 . He was arrested at his home in Belgium in 1943 and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp where he died in 1944 . Many captured members of the resistance were also sent to concentration camps . Albert Guérisse ( one of the leading members of the " Pat " escape line ) was imprisoned at Dachau and briefly served as president of the camp ' s " International Prisoners ' Committee " after its liberation by the United States Army . In 1940 , the German army had requisitioned a former Belgian army fort at Breendonk and transformed it into an or prison camp . Initially , the prison camp was used for detaining Jews , but from 1941 most of those detained at Breendonk were political prisoners or captured members of the resistance . Though it was reasonably small , the camp was infamous for its poor conditions and high death rate . It was also where summary executions of hostages as reprisals for resistance actions occurred . Unusually , Breendonk was mainly guarded by Flemish collaborators of the , rather than German soldiers . Prisoners were often tortured , or even mauled by the camp commander ' s dog , and forced to move tonnes of earth around the fort by hand . Many were summarily executed and still more died as a result of the conditions at the camp . Of the 3 , 500 people incarcerated in Breendonk between November 1942 and April 1943 , around 300 people were killed in the camp itself with at least 84 dying as a result of deprivation or torture . Few inmates remained long in Breendonk itself and were sent on to larger concentration camps in Germany . Collaboration . Both Flanders and Wallonia had right - wing Fascist parties which had been established in the 1930s , often with their own newspapers and paramilitary organisations . All had supported the Belgian policy of neutrality before the war , but after the start of the occupation began to collaborate actively with the Germans . Because of their different ideological backgrounds , they often differed with the Nazis on a variety of ideological issues such as the role of Catholicism or the status of Flanders . Though allowed more freedom than other political groups , the Germans did not fully trust these organisations and , even by the end of 1941 , identified them as a potential " threat to state security " . After the war , 53 , 000 Belgian citizens ( 0 . 6 % of the population ) were found guilty of collaboration , providing the only estimate of the number involved during the period . Around 15 , 000 Belgians served in two separate divisions of the Waffen SS , divided along linguistic lines . In particular , many Belgians were persuaded to work with the occupiers as a result of long - running hostility to Communism , particularly after the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 . By 1944 , Belgian collaborationist groups began to feel increasingly abandoned by the German government as the situation deteriorated . As resistance attacks against them escalated , collaborationist parties became more violent and launched reprisals against civilians , including the Courcelles Massacre in August 1944 . In Flanders . Before the war , several Fascist movements had existed in Flanders . The two major pre - war Flemish Movement parties , the ( VNV ) and , called for the creation of an independent authoritarian Flanders or " " Dietse Staat " " encompassing both Flanders and the Netherlands . Shortly after the occupation , VNV decided to collaborated with the Germans and soon became the biggest group in Flanders , gaining many members after disbanded in 1941 and after fusing with ' s Flemish wing . There was also an organization , the ( " German - Flemish Work Community " , known by its acronym DeVlag ) , which advocated Nazi - style anti - clericalism and the inclusion of Flanders into Germany itself . During the occupation in World War I , the Germans had favoured the Flemish area of the country in the so - called Flamenpolitik , supporting Flemish cultural and political movements . This policy was continued during World War II , as the military government encouraged Flemish Movement parties , especially the VNV , and promoted Flemish nationalists , like Victor Leemans , to important administrative positions in the occupied territory . In turn , the VNV was important in recruiting men for a new " Flemish Legion " , an infantry unit within the , formed in July 1941 after the invasion of Russia . In 1943 , the legion was " annexed " into the Waffen SS as the 27th SS " Langemarck " Division , despite the protestations of the party . The unit fought on the Eastern Front , where it suffered 10 % casualties . The Germans also encouraged the formation of independent Flemish paramilitary organisations , such as the ( " Flemish Guard " ) , founded in May 1941 , which they hoped would eventually be able to act as a garrison in the region , freeing German troops for the front . From 1942 , VNV ' s dominance was increasingly challenged by the more radical DeVlag , which had the support of the SS and Nazi Party . DeVlag was closely affiliated to the paramilitary ( " General - SS Flanders " ) , which was stationed in Belgium itself and involved in the so - called Antwerp Pogrom of 1941 . In Wallonia . Though both Fascist and anti - Semitic , ' s ideology had been more closely aligned with Benito Mussolini ' s than with the Nazi Party before the war . ' s newspaper , which frequently attacked perceived Nazi anti - clericalism , had even been banned from circulation in Germany in the 1930s . With the German invasion , however , rapidly accepted the occupation and became a major force in collaboration in Wallonia . As a result of the , was not given the same favored status accorded to Flemish Fascists . Nevertheless , it was permitted to republish its newspaper and re - establish and expand its paramilitary wing , the , which had been banned before the war . In April 1943 , Rex declared itself part of the SS . The were responsible for numerous attacks against Jews and , from 1944 , also participated in arbitrary reprisals against civilians for attacks by the resistance . In 1944 , Rexist massacred 20 civilians in the village of Courcelles in retaliation for an assassination of a Rexist politician by members of the resistance . Degrelle offered to form a " Walloon Legion " in the Wehrmacht , but his request was denied by the Germans who feared about its feasibility . It was finally accepted in July 1941 , after the invasion of Russia , and Degrelle enlisted . As part of the Flamenpolitik , the Germans refused Degrelle ' s demands for a " Belgian Legion " , preferring to support the creation of separate linguistic units . After a brief period of fighting , it became clear that the Walloon Legion suffered from lack of training and political infighting . It was reformed and sent to the Eastern Front , and became part of the Waffen SS ( as the 28th SS " Wallonien " Division ) in 1943 . During the fighting at the Korsun – Cherkassy Pocket , the unit was nearly annihilated and its popular commander , Lucien Lippert , was killed . In order to make up numbers , and because of a lack of Belgian volunteers , the unit was allocated French and Spanish volunteers . Resistance . Resistance to the German occupiers began in Belgium in the winter of 1940 , after the German defeat in the Battle of Britain made it clear that the war was not lost . Involvement in illegal resistance activity was a decision made by a minority of Belgians ( approximately 5 % of the population ) but many more were involved in passive resistance . If captured , resistance members risked torture and execution . Striking was the most common form of passive resistance and often took place on symbolic dates , such as the 10 May ( anniversary of the German invasion ) , 21 July ( National Day ) and 11 November ( anniversary of the German surrender in World War I ) . The largest was the so - called " Strike of the 100 , 000 " , which broke out on 10 May 1941 in the Cockerill steel works in Seraing . News of the strike spread rapidly and soon at least 70 , 000 workers were on strike across the province of Liége . The Germans increased workers ' salaries by 8 % and the strike finished rapidly . Future large - scale strikes were repressed by the Germans , though further important strikes occurred in November 1942 and February 1943 . Active resistance in Belgium took the form of sabotaging railways and lines of communication as well as hiding Jews and Allied airmen . The resistance also produced large numbers of illegal newspapers , in both French and Dutch languages , distributed to the public to provide news about the war not available in officially approved , censored newspapers . Some publications , like , achieved considerable success and reached a circulation of 70 , 000 . Attacks on German soldiers were comparatively rare as the German administration made a practice of executing at least five Belgian hostages for each German soldier killed . Belgian civilians also hid large numbers of Jews and political dissenters hunted by the Germans , at great personal risk . The resistance was never a single group , and numerous groups evolved divided by political affiliation , geography or specialization . The danger of infiltration posed by German informants meant that some groups were extremely small and localized , and although nation - wide groups did exist , they were split along political and ideological lines . They ranged from the far left , like the Communist or Socialist , to the far - right , like the monarchist and the , which had been created by members of the pre - war Fascist movement . Some , like , had no obvious political affiliation , but specialized particular types of resistance activity and recruited only from very specific demographics . Liberation . In June 1944 , the Western Allies landed in Normandy in Northern France , around west of the Belgian border . After fierce fighting in the areas around the landing sites , the Allies broke through the German lines and began advances towards Paris and towards the Belgian border . By August , the main body of the German army in Northern France ( with the exception of the garrisons of fortified towns like Dunkirk ) was openly retreating eastwards . As the Allies neared the border , the resistance was encouraged to rise up by coded messages broadcast on . The German civil administrator , Joseph Grohé , ordered a general retreat from the country on 28 August and on 1 September , the first Allied units ( amongst them the Free Belgian SAS ) crossed the Belgian frontier . By 4 September , Brussels was in Allied hands . The Belgian government in exile returned to the country on 8 September and began rebuilding the Belgian state and army . Leopold III ' s brother , Charles , was appointed Prince - Regent while a decision was made about whether the King could return to his functions . As the German army regrouped and the Allies ' supply lines became stretched , the front line stabilized along Belgium ' s eastern border . Areas in the south - east of the country remained in German hands , and were briefly recaptured during the German Ardennes Offensive in the winter of 1944 . This only delayed the total liberation of the country and on 4 February 1945 , with the capture of the village of Krewinkel , the entire country was in Allied hands .