Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France

The Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France (German: Militärverwaltung in Belgien und Nordfrankreich) was an interim occupation authority established during the Second World War by Nazi Germany that included present-day Belgium and the French departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais.[1] The administration was also responsible for governing the zone interdite, a narrow strip of territory running along the French northern and eastern borders.[2] It remained in existence until July 1944. Plans to transfer Belgium from the military administration to a civilian administration were promoted by the SS, and Hitler had been ready to do so until Autumn 1942, when he put off the plans for what was intended to be temporary but ended up being permanent until the end of German occupation.[3] The SS had suggested either Josef Terboven or Ernst Kaltenbrunner as the Reich Commissioner of the civilian administration.[4]

This article is about the World War II German military regime operating out of Brussels, the territory of which comprised the country of Belgium and the two French departments Nord and Pas-de-Calais. It is not to be confused with the separate military regime based in Paris, which included most of the remainder of German-occupied France, or with the Zone occupée.
Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
Militärverwaltung Deutschlands in Belgien und Nordfrankreich (German)
Militaire administratie van Duitsland in België en Noord-Frankrijk (Dutch)
Administration Militaire Allemande en Belgique et du Nord de la France (French)
1940–1944
Location of Nazi-occupied Belgium and Northern France
German and Italian occupation zones: the zone occupée, the zone libre, the zone interdites, annexed Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg and Eupen-Malmédy, and the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
German and Italian occupation zones: the zone occupée, the zone libre, the zone interdites, annexed Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg and Eupen-Malmédy, and the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
StatusTerritory under German military administration
CapitalBrussels
Common languagesGerman
Dutch
French
Military Commander 
• 1940
Gerd von Rundstedt
• 1940–1944
Alexander von Falkenhausen
Administrator 
• 1940–1944
Eggert Reeder
Historical eraWorld War II
• Established
1940
• Disestablished
1944
CurrencyBelgian franc
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Belgium
French Third Republic
Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France
Today part ofBelgium
France

Reichskommissariat

On 18 July 1944, the Military Administration was replaced by a civil one, led by the Gauleiter, Josef Grohé, who was named the Reichskommissar of the Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France (Reichskommissariat Belgien und Nordfrankreich)[1][5]

Role of collaborationist groups

The Nazi administration was assisted by fascist Flemish, Walloon, and French collaborationists. In binational Belgian territory, the predominantly French region of Wallonia, the collaborationist Rexists provided aid to the Nazis while in Flemish-populated Flanders, the Flemish National Union supported the Nazis. In Northern France, Flemish separatist tendencies were stirred by the pro-Nazi Vlaamsch Verbond van Frankrijk led by priest Jean-Marie Gantois.[6]

The attachment of the departments Nord and Pas-de-Calais to the military administration in Brussels was initially made on military considerations, and was supposedly done in preparation for the planned invasion of Britain.[7] Ultimately, the attachment was based on Hitler's intention to move the Reich's border westward, and was also used to maintain pressure on the Vichy regime – which protested the curtailment of its authority in what was still de jure national French territory – to ensure its good behavior.[8]

Command structure

The Military Administration formed the core of a wider command structure which allowed the governance of occupied Belgium. It could rely on both military and civilian components:


Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
Militärverwaltung in Belgien und Nordfrankreich
Part of the Wehrmacht
Militärbefehlshaber: Alexander von Falkenhausen		Nazi Germany
Sipo-SD
Part of the Sicherheitspolizei-Sicherheitsdienst
Independent of the Military Administration and directed from Berlin.

Military Administrative Staff
Militärverwaltungsstab
Militärverwaltungschef: Eggert Reeder
Command Staff
Kommandostab
Chef des Kommandostabs: Bodo von Harbou
Belgium
Committee of Secretaries-General
Representatives of the Belgian civil administration
Economic Department
Wirtschaftsabteilung
Feldgendarmerie and Geheime Feldpolizei		Nazi Germany
Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo)
Part of the SS
Belgium
Belgian civil service:
Burgomasters and local government;
Belgian police and state security
Regional and district headquarters:
Oberfeld-, Feld- or
Kreiskommandanten
Belgian collaborationist groups
Principally the Vlaams Nationaal Verbond (VNV) or Rex;
Each with internal command structure.


Based on description in Van den Wijngaert, Mark; Dujardin, Vincent (2006). "La Belgique sans Roi, 1940-1950". Nouvelle Historie de Belgique. Vol. 2: 1905-1950. Brussels: Éd. Complexe. pp. 19–20. ISBN 2-8048-0078-4.

See also

References
  1. "Reichskommissariat Belgien und Nordfrankreich".
  2. Vinen, Richard (2006). The Unfree French: Life under the Occupation (1st ed.). London: Allen Lane. pp. 105–6. ISBN 0-713-99496-7.
  3. Kroener, Müller & Umbreit (2003) Germany and the Second World War V/II, p. 26
  4. Kroener, Müller & Umbreit (2003) Germany and the Second World War V/II, p. 27
  5. Kroener, Müller & Umbreit (2003) Germany and the Second World War V/II, p. 29
  6. Kroener, Bernhard R.; Müller, Rolf-Dieter; Umbreit, Hans (2000). Germany and the Second World War:Organization and mobilization of the German sphere of power. Wartime administration, economy, and manpower resources 1939-1941. Oxford University Press. p. 84. ISBN 0198228872.
  7. Jackson, Julian (2003). France: the dark years, 1940-1944. Oxford University Press. pp. 169. ISBN 0199254575.
  8. Kroener et al. (2000), p. 84

Further reading

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