Origins
The "Piron Brigade" originated in 1940, with hundreds of Belgian soldiers who had escaped to Britain, as had the Belgian Government. A new command of the Belgian Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Victor van Strydonck de Burkel, was created in Tenby on 25 May 1940, three days before the Belgian capitulation. Van Strydonk de Burkel became commander of the Belgian Forces of Great Britain in June 1940 and in the same month, a Belgian Minister (Jaspar) called upon all Belgians to come to Britain to continue fighting.
At the end of July 1940 there were 462 men in the Belgian Forces of Great Britain; the arrival of many Belgians allowed the creation of several military units. The troops were trained in Great Britain and Canada and in 1942, Major Jean-Baptiste Piron arrived in Scotland where he quickly joined the Army Staff, with the responsibility of improving the training of Belgian troops. In an artillery competition, the Belgian battery came first. The Belgian Forces in Britain were officially made available to the Allies on 4 June 1942. By the end of the year the army had been restructured, including the creation of the 1st Belgian Brigade, under the command of Major Piron, with a mix of infantry, artillery and reconnaissance units. Troop training continued through 1943 and landing exercises were conducted in early 1944.
A Luxembourger unit was assigned to the "Brigade Piron" in March, forming an artillery troop. Because the Belgians had arrived from around the world, thirty-three languages were spoken in the Brigade in 1944.
Read more about this topic: 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade
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