Belgian Brigade Group

[Paddy]

In "The London Gazette", supplement 13 november 1946, page 5593 - 5594 lees ik het volgende:

266. A Belgian Brigade Group arrived in
the Middle East from the Belgian Congo
between the middle of April and the middle of
June, 1943. It was organised on Belgian war
establishments and had been trained for jungle
warfare.
267. The role for the brigade agreed between
the War Office and the Belgian authorities in
London was that they should carry out garrison
duties only. It soon became clear, however,
that this decision had not been communicated
to the brigade, and on its arrival in the Middle
East a demand was made for an operational
role. This request was backed by Lieut. -
General Ermens, C.-in-C. Belgian Congo, in
his interview with me in July, 1943. I stated
that, provided the Brigade Group was reorganised
on British war establishment, it
might be possible to contemplate an operational
role after six months' guard 'duties. With this
Lieut.-General Ermens agreed. The continued
and extensive guard duties on which the brigade
was employed throughout 1943 resulted in little
training being carried out; the guard duties
were partly responsible, too, for the general
apathy to which the majority of the European
personnel succumbed, but the promise of a
relief from guard duties and of employment in
a more active role gave a fillip to morale. At
the beginning of 1944 the brigade was showing
more aptitude for training.

[link2]London Gazette,http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/ ... ments/5593[/link2]

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