1944 in Belgium

List of events

* 1943
* 1942
* 1941
*   *

|  | 1944

Belgium |

* 1945
* 1946
* 1947
*   *

|
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Decades:|

* 1920s
* 1930s
* 1940s
* 1950s
* 1960s

See also:| Other events of 1944
List of years in Belgium

Events in the year 1944 in Belgium.

## Incumbents

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* Monarch: Leopold III[1]
* Regent: Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (from 21 September)
* Prime Minister: Hubert Pierlot

## Events

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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
* 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.[3]
* 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

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* 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

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* 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

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* Chronology of the liberation of Belgian cities and towns during World War II

## References

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1. ^ "Leopold III | king of Belgium". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
2. ^ 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).
3. ^ H.F. van Panhuys, L.J. Brinkhorst, and H.H. Maas (eds.), International Organisation and Integration (Deventer and Leyden, 1968), p. 978.

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Years in Belgium

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1944 in Europe

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