Secret Army (Belgium)
| Secret Army Armée Secrète (French) Geheim Leger (Dutch) | |
|---|---|
Uniformed members of the Secret Army with a Canadian soldier in Bruges in September 1944 | |
| Also known as | Belgian Legion (1940–43) Army of Belgium (1943–44) Secret Army (1944) |
| Leaders | Charles Claser Jules Bastin Jules Pire |
| Dates of operation | August 1940–October 1944 |
| Active regions | German-occupied Belgium |
| Ideology | Right-wing Catholic Leopoldist |
| Size | 54,000+ members (1944) |
| Battles and wars | the Belgian Resistance (World War II) |
The Secret Army (French: Armée Secrète, pronounced [aʁme səkʁɛt], AS; Dutch: Geheim Leger, pronounced [ɣəˈɦɛi̯m ˈleːɣər], GL) was an organisation within the Belgian Resistance, active during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. With more than 54,000 members, it was by far the largest resistance group active in the country.
Founded in August 1940 as the Belgian Legion, the Secret Army changed its name on a number of occasions during its existence, adopting its final appellation in June 1944. The Secret Army incorporated many former officers from the defeated Belgian Army and, politically, was dominated by right-wing conservatives and royalists. Although sometimes strained, the Secret Army enjoyed the closest relations of any large resistance movement with the Belgian government-in-exile.