10-YEAR OLD BOY CAPTURED WITH GERMANS ANTWERP | 58 PHOTOS OF THE GERMAN DURING WORLD WAR 2 | PART 10

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Despite being neutral at the start of World War II, Belgium and its colonial possessions found themselves at war after the country was invaded by German forces on 10 May 1940. After 18 days of fighting in which Belgian forces were pushed back into a small pocket in the north-east of the country, the Belgian military surrendered to the Germans, beginning an occupation that would endure until 1944. The surrender of 28 May was ordered by King Leopold III without the consultation of his government and sparked a political crisis after the war. Despite the capitulation, many Belgians managed to escape to the United Kingdom where they formed a government and army-in-exile on the Allied side.

This video is the tenth part of my remarkable Germany At War videos. It consists of rare authentic photos and portraits of soldiers during the war that I have put together from the period of 1933-1946 but more specifically from WW II.

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The amazing thumbnail photo is number 36 in the video. An alleged 10-year-old boy that was captured with the Germans at Antwerp.
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Background

As Belgium had suffered so much damage in World War I, there was little appetite within the country to involve itself in any potential European conflict. In October 1936, King Leopold III announced that Belgium would remain neutral in the event of another war in Europe as part of what he termed an Independent Policy (Politique d'Indépendance). To this end, the Belgian government tried to steer a path away from alliances: leaving the Locarno Treaty, repudiating a defense pact with France signed in 1920, and receiving a guarantee of neutrality from Nazi Germany in 1937.

The invasion of Belgium by Nazi Germany started on May 10th, 1940 under the codename Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow") as part of the wider invasion of France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The Belgian Albert Canal fortifications, some of the most modern defensive networks in Europe, proved almost useless. At Eben-Emael, the fort held by 1,200 Belgians was taken when the Germans deployed 500 glider-borne Fallschirmjäger against them, opening the border for Blitzkrieg-style warfare. Almost all of the air force's modern Hurricane fighters were also destroyed by the Luftwaffe on the ground at Schaffen airfield on May 10.

Leopold III, king, and commander in chief of the Belgian army surrendered personally to German forces on 28 May, contrary to the advice of Pierlot's government, having personally decided that the Allied cause was lost.[29] His decision was fiercely criticized by the French prime minister, Paul Reynaud[30] and by Pierlot in a radio broadcast on 28 June 1940, where he declared Leopold's decision to be "an event without precedent in history".

The king remained in Belgium during the war as a German prisoner while the government went into exile and continued military action in the Allied cause. Unlike the Netherlands and Luxembourg where the monarchy was repressed or had joined the government in exile, Leopold III remained prominent in the occupied territory, and coins and stamps produced during the occupation continued to carry his face or monogram.

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUFJKspPCM-Vjy-QT07MAaDCZKU4J1vfq

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Видео 10-YEAR OLD BOY CAPTURED WITH GERMANS ANTWERP | 58 PHOTOS OF THE GERMAN DURING WORLD WAR 2 | PART 10 канала History Photos Gallery