That is amazing. Both car, and law, and national song/anthem. Thank you for posting this. My father told me he passed through Belgium during WW2, and no one offered food or water to him or his fellow British soldiers. I am glad to read something so positive, kind and cheerful about Belgium.
If an army marches on its stomach, it cannot expect to fill it from the occupied citizens it liberates, who can barely feed themselves. The British Second Army is commemorated in Brussels in the "Brits Tweede Legerlaan" or "Avenue de la deuxième armée britannique," which is the only street I know of in Brussels that also has a semi-official English name, since there is a brass plaque on the roadside indicating why it bears that name. Interestingly, the Little Boats that ensured such a great success in the evacuation of Dunkirk would have served naught had it not been for the front put up by what little remained of Belgium's armed forces. It was Belgium who bought the BEF the time it needed to evacuate, so it could come back and return the compliment some day.
When Belgium was rebuilt after WWI - from the ground up - and, less so after WWII owing to the king's capitulation, meticulous work went into restoring the gothic glories that had been Louvain, Antwerp, Ypres, Mechelen. But ordinary homes were constructed without so much as the luxury of a flush toilet or bathtub. Such are the expediencies of rehousing an entire nation's population by yesterday. When you look at the tourist brochures for all these historical places, and wonder at their glorious visitor sites, you must bear in mind that they are virtually all reconstructed from the stones that lay scattered around and about. It was partly that, so he said, that induced Leopold III to capitulate in WWII, and go into voluntary house arrest for the duration. Some said it looked like collaboration and, if it was that, it would have been indistinguishable. It's hard to discern what Belgium herself thought. Some resisted the occupation and paid with their lives. Some collaborated and paid with their reputations. If France's Louis-Philippe would not stoop to pick up a crown out of the gutter, Leopold III was a king who put his precisely there.
Interestingly, I read today in the paper that a historical record from a monastery looted in the First World War has - after some hesitation - been anonymously returned to the Belgian state archives by an anonymous German finder (https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2025/07/17/anonymous-german-returns-stolen-medieval-document-to-bruges-arch/). But both Belgium and France occupy teams of experts in explosive devices of the First World War, no less, so frequent their discovery is still, over a century later, on today's farmland. We are lucky. This is nothing compared to the deliberately unexploded ordnance that litters Laos in its millions, and regularly maims the unwary - usually children, from the undeclared war on that country by the USA.
Thank you for this. Sadly, my father died a long while ago (I'm 77), so I can't tell him, as I would have done otherwise. I'm glad to get this information too. In the middle of battle and wars, misinformation is only too easy to find and spread. I'm a pacifist, which my father accepted, so only too aware of areas and countries full of unexploded ordnance, and the horrors that exist as a result.
Thanks for a thoughtful reply, Liz. I think you joined this blog recently. May I recommend the following, which are from an earlier date? In them, I wrestle with pacifism, so perhaps they offer perspectives. If you have a reaction, I'd love to hear it.
Thanks again! Yes, pacifism is one of those areas which don't often get discussed. I signed the peace pledge at 16, during the period of Dylan/Ochs/Baez plus backlogs from Seeger/Guthrie etc, and having read a lot of war books my father got from one of the various book clubs then available. Schools tended to avoid such up to date history, although info was available if you went looking as I did, my family were fairly conservative, though reasonably open minded. One of my uncles was gay, known to be so, but not with publicity attached. Another was radically inclined with wife and family brought up to match, but the entire group of 4 boys and 1 girl had been raised by their mother taking in washing because her husband was disabled and no longer able to work, so they really were a mixed bunch. Since I effectively reached teenage alongside the Vietnam war, and general rebellion in my age group, plus I went to Leeds university which was left wing in students and staff, I was rapidly introduced to the full variety of marxist, communist, trotskyist variations possible, with a side issue of liberal, socialist, labour and anarchist groups. An upbringing in a 900 person agricultural village made this a delight to explore, since it included a folk club plus a concert from Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, a Marxist landlady who also helped run Leeds CND, parties that included anarchists, communists, and excellent debates, and a rapid introduction to feminism. I don't think my mother really appreciated the change.
I will follow up your thoughts, and we can perhaps have a chat!
Orwell gave pacifism a bad press. I think he was very naughty to do that. Honestly, he was a great writer, but his method often seemed so much like “winging it”, as if he succeeded despite his best endeavours. But he said that, if you’re a pacifist, you may as well be a fascist for all the help you’ll be in putting down fascism.
There’s a very bad joke about a man who ends up at the Pearly Gates and is asked what good he did in his time on earth. After consideration he tells St Peter he once gave a tanner to Oxfam. St Peter consults with God, who looks at the guy and whispers, “Give him a shilling and tell him to go to Hell.”
I wonder what God would say when I told St Peter that, contrary to my better conscience, I’d fought to defeat fascism by killing people. Because that’s the 64 thousand dollar question. Are we pacifists for its effect on mankind, or for its effect on us?
That is amazing. Both car, and law, and national song/anthem. Thank you for posting this. My father told me he passed through Belgium during WW2, and no one offered food or water to him or his fellow British soldiers. I am glad to read something so positive, kind and cheerful about Belgium.
Thank you, Liz.
If an army marches on its stomach, it cannot expect to fill it from the occupied citizens it liberates, who can barely feed themselves. The British Second Army is commemorated in Brussels in the "Brits Tweede Legerlaan" or "Avenue de la deuxième armée britannique," which is the only street I know of in Brussels that also has a semi-official English name, since there is a brass plaque on the roadside indicating why it bears that name. Interestingly, the Little Boats that ensured such a great success in the evacuation of Dunkirk would have served naught had it not been for the front put up by what little remained of Belgium's armed forces. It was Belgium who bought the BEF the time it needed to evacuate, so it could come back and return the compliment some day.
When Belgium was rebuilt after WWI - from the ground up - and, less so after WWII owing to the king's capitulation, meticulous work went into restoring the gothic glories that had been Louvain, Antwerp, Ypres, Mechelen. But ordinary homes were constructed without so much as the luxury of a flush toilet or bathtub. Such are the expediencies of rehousing an entire nation's population by yesterday. When you look at the tourist brochures for all these historical places, and wonder at their glorious visitor sites, you must bear in mind that they are virtually all reconstructed from the stones that lay scattered around and about. It was partly that, so he said, that induced Leopold III to capitulate in WWII, and go into voluntary house arrest for the duration. Some said it looked like collaboration and, if it was that, it would have been indistinguishable. It's hard to discern what Belgium herself thought. Some resisted the occupation and paid with their lives. Some collaborated and paid with their reputations. If France's Louis-Philippe would not stoop to pick up a crown out of the gutter, Leopold III was a king who put his precisely there.
Interestingly, I read today in the paper that a historical record from a monastery looted in the First World War has - after some hesitation - been anonymously returned to the Belgian state archives by an anonymous German finder (https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2025/07/17/anonymous-german-returns-stolen-medieval-document-to-bruges-arch/). But both Belgium and France occupy teams of experts in explosive devices of the First World War, no less, so frequent their discovery is still, over a century later, on today's farmland. We are lucky. This is nothing compared to the deliberately unexploded ordnance that litters Laos in its millions, and regularly maims the unwary - usually children, from the undeclared war on that country by the USA.
Thank you for this. Sadly, my father died a long while ago (I'm 77), so I can't tell him, as I would have done otherwise. I'm glad to get this information too. In the middle of battle and wars, misinformation is only too easy to find and spread. I'm a pacifist, which my father accepted, so only too aware of areas and countries full of unexploded ordnance, and the horrors that exist as a result.
Thanks for a thoughtful reply, Liz. I think you joined this blog recently. May I recommend the following, which are from an earlier date? In them, I wrestle with pacifism, so perhaps they offer perspectives. If you have a reaction, I'd love to hear it.
https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/will-a-pacifist-topple-his-government
https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/on-conscientious-objection
https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/a-courageous-trooper-soldiering-for
Thanks again! Yes, pacifism is one of those areas which don't often get discussed. I signed the peace pledge at 16, during the period of Dylan/Ochs/Baez plus backlogs from Seeger/Guthrie etc, and having read a lot of war books my father got from one of the various book clubs then available. Schools tended to avoid such up to date history, although info was available if you went looking as I did, my family were fairly conservative, though reasonably open minded. One of my uncles was gay, known to be so, but not with publicity attached. Another was radically inclined with wife and family brought up to match, but the entire group of 4 boys and 1 girl had been raised by their mother taking in washing because her husband was disabled and no longer able to work, so they really were a mixed bunch. Since I effectively reached teenage alongside the Vietnam war, and general rebellion in my age group, plus I went to Leeds university which was left wing in students and staff, I was rapidly introduced to the full variety of marxist, communist, trotskyist variations possible, with a side issue of liberal, socialist, labour and anarchist groups. An upbringing in a 900 person agricultural village made this a delight to explore, since it included a folk club plus a concert from Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, a Marxist landlady who also helped run Leeds CND, parties that included anarchists, communists, and excellent debates, and a rapid introduction to feminism. I don't think my mother really appreciated the change.
I will follow up your thoughts, and we can perhaps have a chat!
Orwell gave pacifism a bad press. I think he was very naughty to do that. Honestly, he was a great writer, but his method often seemed so much like “winging it”, as if he succeeded despite his best endeavours. But he said that, if you’re a pacifist, you may as well be a fascist for all the help you’ll be in putting down fascism.
There’s a very bad joke about a man who ends up at the Pearly Gates and is asked what good he did in his time on earth. After consideration he tells St Peter he once gave a tanner to Oxfam. St Peter consults with God, who looks at the guy and whispers, “Give him a shilling and tell him to go to Hell.”
I wonder what God would say when I told St Peter that, contrary to my better conscience, I’d fought to defeat fascism by killing people. Because that’s the 64 thousand dollar question. Are we pacifists for its effect on mankind, or for its effect on us?
I do hope so! Joan Baez is a lifelong love of mine, and I grew up in Leeds. Our paths have already crossed.