Figure 1.--Here we see Belgian refugees returning to battered Leuven after the collapse of Belgian resistanec. Notice the destruction in the city and destroyed Brititsh vehicles. Most of Belgium escaped serius destruction. Leuven was an exception.

The German victory was so quick that the extensive damage occurubg in World War I fid not occur in World War II, The Belgian Army quickly desintegrated under the the Blitzkrieg tactics of the German Army. As a result, the German passed through most Belgian towns and villages without serious resistance. Impregniable fortreses fell to small German units. There was no answer to the German Panzers and Luftwaffe attacks. Leuven in the north had been the site of one of the great German attrocities with rampaging German soldiers, destroying the great university linrary with prieless manuscriots. There was also damage in World War II. Leuven was part of the British Expeditionary Force's (BEF's) front line. The 3rd Division fought there with Belgian troops (May 14-16). German Army Group B assaulted the city with heavy air and artillery support. The British withdrew their forces to the River Senne on the night (May 16). The Germans in another act of senless vandalism set the new university library afire on the same day the British retreated. Some 1 million books were destroyed. [Derez p. 13.] This was more like German behavior in the East. This was not, however, the general expereienc in Belgium and Framce. The Belgians fled because of their memnories of German behavior in World War I more than the relatively limited destruction of World War II.

Sources

Derez, Mark. "The Burning of the Library of Leuven and the International Response (2014).

Created: 3:14 AM 11/25/2018
Last updated: 3:02 AM 3/11/2020