Belgian Army 1940

The Belgian Army 1940 was organized as follows:

The King of Belgium was the commander in chief

There were 100,000 active duty personnel with army strength reaching 550,000 when mobilized.

There were five corps:

Infantry

Three Active Army Corps (Infantry); Brussels, Antwerp, and Liege and later as folows:

• Belgian I Corps
  • 1st Infantry Division
  • 4th Infantry Division
  • 7th Infantry Division
• Belgian II Corps
  • 6th Infantry Division
  • 11th Infantry Division
  • 14th Infantry Division
• Belgian III Corps
  • 1st Chasseurs Ardennais
  • 2nd Infantry Division
  • 3rd Infantry Division
• Belgian IV Corps
  • 9th Infantry Division
  • 15th Infantry Division
  • 18th Infantry Division
• Belgian V Corps
  • 12th Infantry Division
  • 13th Infantry Division
  • 17th Infantry Division
• Belgian VI Corps
  • 5th Infantry Division
  • 10th Infantry Division
  • 16th Infantry Division

Army Corps had the following:

• Corps Staff
• two active and several reserve Infantry Divisions
• Corps Artillery Regiment of 4 battalions of two batteries with 16 artillery pieces per battalion
• Pioneer regiment

Controlling 18 Infantry Divisions

• Active duty - 1st thru 6th
• 1st Line reserve - 7th thru 12th
• 2nd Line Reserve - 13th thru 18th the 2nd line divisions were smaller and had less heavy equipment.

The Infantry divisions had a division staff and three Infantry Regiments each of 3,000 men. each Regiment had 108 light machineguns, 52 heavy machineguns, nine heavy mortars or Infantry gun howitzers, and six antitank guns.

Cavalry

• Brussels Cavalry Corps - which had the following:

Corps Staff

• 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions, both of which were partially motorized. Each with three Mixed Cavalry Regiments each of which had a Horse cavalry battalion, a motorcycle battalion, an armored car squadron, and a training squadron
• Corps Artillery Regiment
• Bicycle Pioneer battalion

Ardennes

• Ardennes Rifle Corps - 1st and 2nd Ardennes Rifle Divisions, both of which were partially motorized.

Independent units

Army Heavy Artillery Regiment

Air Corps of four regiments:

• 1st Observation and Army Cooperation with six squadrons and 62 aircraft
• 2nd Fighter with six squadrons with 79 aircraft
• 3rd Reconnaissance/Bomber with four squadrons and 42 aircraft

each squadron also had an anti-aircraft artillery company

• Auxiliary Regiment with ancillary and refuelling squadrons

Three Independent Frontier Bicycle Battalions

Category: Belgian Land Component Category: World War II orders of battle