ISBN 1-313-32218-X
212 pages

Preface; Abbreviations; Introduction; photos; maps; Notes; Chronology; Glossary and Commentary; Bibliography; Index

   At the end of the First World War, Belgium emerged as one of London's respected friends thanks to its dogged perseverance and military contributions to the Allies despite occupation of much of the country throughout the war by German troops. During the inter-war years, however, Belgium's status in the eyes of British leaders—and the British people—declined precipitously, and by mid-1940 Belgium's reputation hit rock bottom.
   In the immediate post-WWI years, Belgium maintained a strong military alliance with France, in effect relying on the French Army to protect the small nation from further invasion by Germany. In 1936, changing conditions in Europe and within Belgium caused Brussels to end the alliance with France and embark upon an independent course of neutrality and military self-sufficiency. These new policies were not well received in Paris or London, with the latter fearing that Germany would simply overrun Belgium and establish airbases from which to strike England. When war broke out in 1939, King Leopold III and his government continued their policy of strict neutrality and refused to closely coordinate military planning with France and Britain for a joint response to a potential German invasion of Belgium. In the face of that invasion in May 1940, the Belgian armed forces proved woefully unprepared. As the entire Allied position rapidly crumbled, Leopold's surrender was seen by the British as a rash and precipitous move which came without warning and threatened to allow the Germans to overrun the Dunkirk perimeter.
   Belgian prestige dipped even further when, unlike Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Leopold decided not to escape to England and lead a government in exile. Instead, he chose to stay behind in occupied Belgium as a "prisoner of war" in a rather gilded cage. Meanwhile, the ministers of the Belgian government—led by Hubert Pierlot and Paul-Henri Spaak—fled to France along with thousands of demoralized Belgian soldiers and millions of frightened civilians. In France, the Belgian government faced a crisis in trying to determine first their constitutional position given the surrender of the King, and second what course of action they should take. Upon the French surrender, Pierlot and his ministers moved to Vichy to continue their debate and to attempt an organized repatriation of Belgian soldiers and civilians. At one point the ministers agreed to offer to conduct a formal and official national surrender to Germany. Hitler, however, with Belgium and its King already firmly in his grasp, displayed no interest in such diplomatic niceties. The Belgian cabinet further irritated the British by firing a patriotic junior minister, already in London, when he appealed to Belgians to rally to the Allied cause in England.
   Having already dispatched two of their number to England, mostly to assure control over Belgian colonies in Africa, the powerless cabinet then voted to move the government to London. Those ministers unwilling to go to England resigned their posts, leaving only Pierlot (and his family) and Spaak to make their way out of Vichy at the end of August 1940. At the Spanish border, the Belgians were refused transit permits and for a time the party was stranded in limbo between Spain and France. Under British pressure, Spain eventually relented and the Belgians reached Barcelona where Pierlot and Spaak were held more or less under house arrest by orders of the Spanish interior minister who then became Spanish foreign minister. (The author never identifies the minister as Serrano Suner, brother-in-law of Francisco Franco, who advocated fuller cooperation with Germany and who was still alive as this was being written in 2003.) The British government contemplated a rescue operation with the Royal Navy, but decided against that plan for "two rather worthless individuals." On 19 October 1940 Pierlot and Spaak finally escaped Barcelona "in a secret compartment of a truck owned by the Belgian consulate" and fled to the Portuguese border in a seventeen-hour trip across Spanish back roads. From Lisbon the two ministers flew by seaplane to England where they would base their embryonic administration.
   So begins Robert W. Allen's book about the Belgian government in exile along with its small military force and a number of expatriate civilians.
   Along with Spaak and the two ministers already in London, the government of Pierlot was recognized by the British and from very humble beginnings—and financed to a large extent by the wealth of the Belgian Congo, which remained under their control—the exile administration gradually restored its reputation and began welding a few troops into a viable component of the larger Allied armed forces. Allen discusses a wide variety of activities and issues, including political divisions within the exile community; the social, cultural, and psychological disorientation of Belgian expatriates; the ways in which British skepticism was overcome; financial and organizational aspects of the government; loan of the Belgian gold reserves to Britain; propaganda broadcasting to Belgium; the exile government's control over resistance forces in Belgium; and the evolution of the Belgian armed forces in Britain.
   Most of one chapter is devoted to the Belgian Congo, including military aspects seldom mentioned in English-language works. In addition to the participation of the 3rd Brigade of the Congo's Force Publique in the campaign in East Africa, several pages also cover the 1st Brigade's move to Nigeria for training and garrison duty, and then its journey to the Near East.

   The 1st Brigade moved from Nigeria to the Middle East in mid-1943 at the Belgian government's request, but the colonial troops continued to be adversely affected at their new location by conflicting Belgian political and British military goals. The British commander in the Middle East wanted the troops from the Congo only for guarding supplies and key points in occupied Cyrenaica, but the Belgian government wanted its troops to win battles and glory against the enemy in Italy. Even the commander of the Force Publique was so intent on fighting the Germans that he deluded himself into thinking his eager troops could survive against determined Wehrmacht defenders. The fierce spirit of the 1st Brigade had been shown when its transport sections survived an unprecedented 3,598-mile journey from Nigeria to Cairo in the spring and summer. Two thousand men drove 800 military trucks across desert, rivers and along remote trails with a remarkably low wastage rate of 5 percent. Similar perseverance had enabled their 3rd Brigade compatriots to defeat both the Abyssinian terrain and larger Italian colonial forces. However, these excellent individual qualities would still not compensate for the superior firepower, mobility and organization of German opponents.
   Frustrated by the British refusal to change the 1st Brigade's role in the Middle East, the Belgians offered later in 1943 to send it to Burma on the premise that the native troops would be useful in the jungle. Eager Belgian politicians even offered to send Force Publique replacements to Libya if the 1st Brigade moved to Southeast Asia, and added that Belgian paratroopers were available for active operations anywhere. Anglo-Belgian military discussions determined that Burma was too distant from Belgian interests and therefore would generate little enthusiasm among the Eurocentric white officers and sergeants. Logistical and training complications, such as supply, language, reinforcements and poorly educated soldiers, provided the British with many good reasons to reject the Belgian offers. The lack of suitable armament and sufficient officers in the Force Publique, combined with adverse weather and racism in Europe, made Italy or France inappropriate as well. Continuing victories and adequate Anglo-American reinforcements in the Mediterranean theater meant that the disappointed brigade was never needed for anything except garrison duties until its return to the Congo in late 1944.

   Military aspects are not confined to the chapter on the Congo. Chapter Five, "Sharpening the Sword," digs into Belgium's exile army, navy, and air force, including operations of the Belgian component of Britain's 10th (Inter-Allied) Commando. The Belgian commando troop later joined 2nd Special Service Brigade under Brigadier T.B.L. Churchill in Italy and Yugoslavia. Although the Piron Brigade, the government's main ground force, did not land in Normandy until the beginning of August, the Belgian 349 and 350 Squadrons of the RAF were in the air over the D-Day beaches and the Belgian-manned corvettes were part of the naval escort. On 3 September 1944 the Piron Brigade crossed from France onto the soil of Belgium. Pierlot and his government arrived in Brussels on 8 September.
   Although the return of the government to Brussels ended its exile, Allen continues the story through early 1945. This denouement explains the gradual recovery of Belgium from years of occupation, including the formation of Pierlot's new government of national unity; the election of Leopold's brother as temporary regent (Leopold having been abducted by the retreating Germans); the problem with Leftist parties whose former Resistance members refused to turn in their weapons; demonstrations in Brussels that led to the police shooting thirty-four protesters; the recruitment of 30,000 former Resistance members for training in Northern Ireland to form five new Belgian brigades in early 1945; dealing with collaborators; the V-1 and V-2 attacks on Antwerp; Belgian contingents attached to American forces during the Battle of the Bulge; currency reforms and the Anglo-Belgian Monetary Agreement; food shortages; displaced persons and the return of exiled civilians; and the eventual fall of the Pierlot government in February 1945.
   The author has done a thorough job of tying together a great many threads about the disparate aspects of exiled Belgians and bringing into the English language a great deal of detailed information which had been available only in French and Flemish. On the other hand, the author's talents as a writer don't always measure up to his skills as a researcher, making the book a bit bumpy and awkward in a few places. Allen also tends to avoid colorful touches which might have boosted his story-telling (such as identifying Serrano Suner). Similarly, the material on Belgian armed forces provides far more tantalizing data about individual units than anything else available in English, but at the same time Allen seems unwilling or unable to give precise information about unit IDs, dates of activation, commanders, deployment, etc. While not a biography, it's also a shame that Allen paints Pierlot and Spaak (especially the latter, who went on to become one of the founding fathers of the European Union) with such a gray palette that they barely emerge from the canvas.
   Those minor caveats aside, Churchill's Guests provides a complete survey of the Belgium government in exile with a wealth of fresh information and detail. Not only does Allen survey Belgium, he also compares and contrasts the Belgian experience with other exile governments in London, offering some broader perspectives and conclusions about all the "guests of Churchill." Definitely recommended to anyone with any interest in Belgium at war, minor Allied nations, or obscure military formations. In particular, a bookshelf containing The German Occupation of Belgium 1940-1944 by Werner Warmbrunn, France and Belgium, 1939-1940 by Brian Bond, and Churchill's Guests would go a long way toward covering Belgium's entire experience during World War II.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Praeger.
   Thanks to Praeger for providing this review copy.