1944 in Belgium
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| See also: | Other events of 1944 List of years in Belgium | ||||
Events in the year 1944 in Belgium.
Incumbents
- Monarch: Leopold III[1]
- Regent: Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (from 21 September)
- Prime Minister: Hubert Pierlot
Events
- January
- 14 January – Occupying German authorities order evacuation of civilians from the Belgian coast.[2]: 857
- 16 January – Groupe G resistance organisation dynamites pylons to sabotage electricity supply.[2]: 857
- February
- 5 February – Occupying authorities streamline procedure for death sentences on charges of "terrorism".[2]: 857
- April
- 11 April – Heavy allied bombing of industrial targets and transport infrastructure in Belgian cities.[2]: 858
- 19 April – Mechelen and Leuven bombed.[2]: 858
- May
- 21 May – Cardinal Van Roey appeals to Allies to cease bombing civilian targets in Belgium.[2]: 857
- June
- 7 June – Leopold III, under house arrest since 1940, deported to Germany together with his wife and children.[2]: 858
- July
- 18 July – Military occupation under General Alexander von Falkenhausen replaced by Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France under Reichskommissar Josef Grohé.[2]: 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.[2]: 857
- August
- 18 August
- Courcelles Massacre in retaliation for the assassination of the collaborationist mayor of Charleroi by the Belgian Resistance.[2]: 859
- Over 330 killed and 600 injured in American mistaken bombing of Namur.[3][4]
- 31 August – Many Belgian collaborators flee to Germany.[2]: 857
- September
- 2 September – Allied ground forces enter Belgium.
- 4 September – Liberation of Brussels and Antwerp; Independent Belgian Brigade (Brigade Piron) enters Brussels.[2]: 858-9
- 5 September – Customs Convention between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed.[5]
- 7 September – Liberation of Liège.[2]: 857
- 8 September – Battle of Geel begins (to 23 September)
- 15 September – Cinemas reopened in liberated parts of Belgium.[2]: 857
- 21 September – Prince Charles, Count of Flanders appointed Prince Regent in the king's absence.[2]: 860
- 27 September – Government in exile becomes government of national unity.[2]: 857
- October
- 2 October – Battle of the Scheldt begins (to 8 November)
- 12 October – First V-1 flying bomb attack on Belgium.[2]: 857
- November
- 1 November – Operation Infatuate launched
- 3 November – Last German forces in Belgium surrender at Knokke.[2]: 860
- 8 November – Belgian Parliament lifts parliamentary privilege of members of collaborationist organisations.[2]: 857
- 18 November – Resistance groups disarmed.[2]: 857
- 25 November – Resistance groups demonstrate in Parliament to demand official recognition.[2]: 860
- 28 November – Allied shipping starts to use the Port of Antwerp.[2]: 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
See also
References
- ^ "Leopold III | king of Belgium". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Alain de Gueldre et al., Kroniek van België (Antwerp and Zaventem, 1987).
- ^ Valentin Parmentier (18 August 2024). "Le 18 août 1944, Namur sombrait sous les bombardements… américains". La Libre Belgique.
- ^ "Namur marks 75th anniversary of bombing by Americans". The Brussels Times. 19 August 2019.
- ^ H.F. van Panhuys, L.J. Brinkhorst, and H.H. Maas (eds.), International Organisation and Integration (Deventer and Leyden, 1968), p. 978.
