The Bitter Road to Freedom: The Human Cost of Allied Victory in World War II Europe by William I. Hitchcock Page A
Authors: William I. Hitchcock
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meanwhile, remained in his sumptuous palace outside Brussels, claiming that he would share the fate of his people under German rule. He dwelt in royal comfort while the German military, along with the remarkably cooperative Belgian industrialists, bureaucrats, and administrators, ran the country. Leopold met Hitler at Berchtesgaden in November 1940, but failed to win concessions and autonomy from the German Führer; then he withdrew behind his palace walls until June 1944, when the Germans seized him and deported him to Germany, a worthless and unmissed hostage. The Al- lies therefore accorded recognition to Pierlot’s govern- ment, set its members up in a house in Eaton Square in London, and ignored them—until the swift, almost miraculously speedy, liberation of Belgium occurred, taking only a few days. On September 8, 1944, a British aircraft flew a dozen Belgian cabinet ministers, led by Pierlot, into Brussels. Upon their arrival at the Brussels airfield, no one met them at the airport. Pierlot, whom
the British ambassador said was characterized “by a certain lack of vigorous initiative,” was a man very much of the old regime: he was sixty-four years old, a twenty-year veteran of the parliament, a Catholic cen- trist, a former minister of interior and foreign affairs, and a lawyer. Upon his arrival in Brussels, he installed himself in the Ministry of the Interior, and on Septem- ber 9 he led a delegation to the World War I memorial to lay a wreath. Spectators on the streets stared mutely; there was no applause. On September 20, the brother of the king, Prince Charles, was appointed by a joint ses- sion of parliament to act as regent until the king’s fate could be determined. Pierlot resigned, only to be asked by Prince Charles to form a new government. Thus a collection of men from the prewar regime with no con- nections to the internal Belgian resistance took up the reins of power with full British support; continuity and control were the watchwords of the moment. 5
Materially, Belgium in 1944 had certain advantages over France, since its infrastructure had not been se- verely damaged by the war. Though they had wrecked the telephone and telegraph exchange in Brussels, the retreating Germans had not had time to sabotage the rail and transport network. The country’s fall harvest was intact, the coal mines had not been destroyed, and even Antwerp’s port facilities had not yet been seri-
ously harmed. Even so, the large cities faced a serious bread shortage in the weeks after liberation, and con- ditions in the country worsened throughout the fall. This was chiefly due to a shortage of coal, oil, and elec- tricity to run trains, fuel trucks, and fire the bakeries. Belgium had been self-sufficient in coal before the war, but at the time of the liberation, coal production had fallen to a mere tenth of prewar production. There was a shortage of labor, since 500,000 workers had been shipped to Germany to work inside the Reich as forced labor. The train system was malfunctioning because the Germans had wrecked the telegraph network, mak- ing a shambles of the train timetables. Perhaps most important, the collapse of the German occupation had left little or no centralized Belgian bureaucracy to deal with coal transport and distribution. A good deal of the coal that was mined was sold on the black market at astronomical prices, and it was not until December that the British army agreed to place soldiers on ev- ery coal train coming out of the mines to ensure that the coal reached its assigned destination without be- ing detoured and ransacked. Belgians also had to com- pete with the Allied armies, which since November had gobbled up 900,000 tons of Belgian coal (along with tons of local vegetables, fruits, and potatoes). 6 With- out reliable coal supplies for civilian consumption, the country came to a near halt. In mid- October, electricity
was shut off between 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. in an ef- fort to conserve
the British ambassador said was characterized “by a certain lack of vigorous initiative,” was a man very much of the old regime: he was sixty-four years old, a twenty-year veteran of the parliament, a Catholic cen- trist, a former minister of interior and foreign affairs, and a lawyer. Upon his arrival in Brussels, he installed himself in the Ministry of the Interior, and on Septem- ber 9 he led a delegation to the World War I memorial to lay a wreath. Spectators on the streets stared mutely; there was no applause. On September 20, the brother of the king, Prince Charles, was appointed by a joint ses- sion of parliament to act as regent until the king’s fate could be determined. Pierlot resigned, only to be asked by Prince Charles to form a new government. Thus a collection of men from the prewar regime with no con- nections to the internal Belgian resistance took up the reins of power with full British support; continuity and control were the watchwords of the moment. 5
Materially, Belgium in 1944 had certain advantages over France, since its infrastructure had not been se- verely damaged by the war. Though they had wrecked the telephone and telegraph exchange in Brussels, the retreating Germans had not had time to sabotage the rail and transport network. The country’s fall harvest was intact, the coal mines had not been destroyed, and even Antwerp’s port facilities had not yet been seri-
ously harmed. Even so, the large cities faced a serious bread shortage in the weeks after liberation, and con- ditions in the country worsened throughout the fall. This was chiefly due to a shortage of coal, oil, and elec- tricity to run trains, fuel trucks, and fire the bakeries. Belgium had been self-sufficient in coal before the war, but at the time of the liberation, coal production had fallen to a mere tenth of prewar production. There was a shortage of labor, since 500,000 workers had been shipped to Germany to work inside the Reich as forced labor. The train system was malfunctioning because the Germans had wrecked the telegraph network, mak- ing a shambles of the train timetables. Perhaps most important, the collapse of the German occupation had left little or no centralized Belgian bureaucracy to deal with coal transport and distribution. A good deal of the coal that was mined was sold on the black market at astronomical prices, and it was not until December that the British army agreed to place soldiers on ev- ery coal train coming out of the mines to ensure that the coal reached its assigned destination without be- ing detoured and ransacked. Belgians also had to com- pete with the Allied armies, which since November had gobbled up 900,000 tons of Belgian coal (along with tons of local vegetables, fruits, and potatoes). 6 With- out reliable coal supplies for civilian consumption, the country came to a near halt. In mid- October, electricity
was shut off between 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. in an ef- fort to conserve
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