Biographies: Michel and Maurits Debruyne (Belgium, 1910s)
Figure 1.--The Debruyne brothers, Michel and Maurits, were young Belgian boys who lived through World War I--actually on the front line of the War. They stayed with their parents until the final climatic year of the War when military action intensified. The boys were sent south to colonies (camps) in France. The camp seems to have had a smock uniform. Notice the bows. Both Belgian and French children wore smocks to school at the time. We think these smocks were probably a kind of unitorm at the colony. While Belgian children did wear smnocks for school, they did not have military-styled campaign caps with them. They would have been provided at the colony. And the boys would have really liked the caps. We see many boys in beligerant countries chosing to wear military caps. We are not sure what headwear girls would have had. (We think that these colonies would have been coed so as not to split up families. Notice how the older boy is comforting his little brother. .
The Debruyne brothers, Michel and Maurits, were young Belgian boys who lived through World War I--actually on the front line of the War. Their father was a mason. They were born about 1908 and 1912. Their experience was different than that of most Belgians boys in that they lived in the small sliver of southwest Belgium that the Germams failed to occupy--Yser Pocket in western Flanders. It became the extreme left of the Allied Western Front. Unlike France, civilians were not evauated to safe areas as there was so little of Belgium left. They watched the refugees flow through, military maneuvers, wounded soldiers and field hospotals, foreign Allied soldiers, and lived in areas that the Germans shelled and attacked. Furnes became a German target. The Germans began gas attacks on Furnes. The civilians were issued gas masks. As the War was about to reach a climax in early 1918, the choldren were sent south for safety to a children's colony (camp). One historian describes the camp, "Their experience will be similar to that of hundreds of other children from the unoccupied zone, sent to school colonies: lessons, chores, strict discipline, regularly interspersed with mandatory activities. The colonies, run by teachers and strict educators, are not holiday camps and, though the children are cared for correctly, this is no replacement for the family home. The children can correspond with their parents but, even from unoccupied zone to unoccupied zone, the mail service is poor, and the authorities in charge of the children are stingy with news." [Cappart] The camp seems to have had a smock uniform (figure 1). Notice the bows. Both Belgian and French children wore smocks to school at the time. We think these smocks were probably a kind of unitorm at the colony. While Belgian children did wear smnocks for school, they did not wear military-styled forage caps with them. They would have been provided at the colony. And the boys would have really liked the militart style forage caps. We see many boys in beligerant countries chosing to wear military caps. We are not sure what headwear girls would have had. (We think that these colonies would have been coed so as not to split up families. Notice how the olderbboy is comforting his little brother.
