The Belgian Army in World War I (Men-at-Arms, 452) Paperback – June 23, 2009

Interesting booklet. It gives people some understanding about a little known but amazing group of fighting men during the first World War !The Belgian army during World War I was tremendously outgunned and outmanned, yet put up a magnificent resistance to the invading German armies who blatantly and cruely violated Belgium’s neutrality. This small but brave Belgian military inflicted untold casualties on the Germans as they tried to crush the spirit of Belgium. In the end, the Belgians held on to a section of Belgium while the Germans tried everything including gas to defeat them, but the Germans and their allies were never able to conquer them.

This is not a very good Osprey book - it is readable in some parts, but nothing more. The valiant fight of Belgian Army between 1914 and 1918 deserves to be more known than it is and I was very happy that Osprey made a book on this topic - but it was not well done.The description of events is of course superficial, because Osprey MAM books are only 48 pages long - but it was still possible to write more on the battles waged by Belgians. Author however mostly wasted pages 3 to 8, describing XIX century Europen politics and a general history of beginning of World War I - something it was not necessary to do. Those six pages could have been put to a better use.The description of organisation, weaponry and equipment of Belgian Army at the beginning of 1914 is extremely superficial! There is not even a one page battle order with names of great units and their commanders! We have to dig deep in descriptions of color plates to find some information about weaponry - and even there it is fragmentary.The campaign of 1914 is described in some detail, on pages from 8 to 20, but after that the whole period January 1915-December 1917 is expedited on six pages, with mostly the generalities like "Belgium purchased guns, rifles and machine guns to make up the shortfalls" - but what kind of weapons and from whom? Mystery... Also the description of Belgian front from 1915 to 1918 is mostly just a copy of press articles written by a journalist in 1916 and 1917...Not only this book is very superficial, but it is also poorly written and chaotic - and there is only one little and poorly made map!But the WORST thing are the color plates by Patrice Courcelle - or should I rather say "no color" plates, as there is hardly any color in most of those plates! Drawings of men, their uniforms and their weapons are poor and lack in detail and the one plate which tries to show a real trench fight is simply BEYOND PATHETIC! For the life of me I cannot understand who in Osprey team actually agreed to pay for those plates!? The plate on the cover is actually one of only two which are acceptable!Honestly, I think that by looking the things up on internet and especially in relevant articles of wikipedia, you can easily find more information on the topic than in this book - and it will be for free. This book is really a wasted occasion - and it is a pity!

One would expect the curator of the Belgian Army Museum to be able to come up with some decent photos of Belgian soldiers and equipment. Alas, so did Osprey when they hired him to write this book. But surprise, he took the very lazy way out and used very common, often published views. As a result, the Belgian Army of 1914-1918, still hasn't received the coverage it deserves.Having studied the uniforms and equipment of the Belgian Army for about 15 years now, I can't express how very disappointed I am in this book.

THE BELGIAN ARMY IN WORLD WAR IRONALD BOWLY AND PIERRE LIERNEUXOSPREY PUBLISHING, 2009QUALITY SOFTCOVER, $17.95, 48 PAGES, MAP, PHOTOGRAPHS, ILLUSTRATIONS, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEXWhen Belgium's army mobilized for World War I in August, 1914, it was small and inexperienced compared with its European counterparts. Because of Belgium's neutrality, the Belgian officer corps, trained at the Ecole de Guerre, didn't attract superior candidates.The Belgian Army had evolved from the Belgian Civic Guard, established in 1831. That force maintained order and provided wartime auxiliary services such as supply. It wasn't until 1913, when threatened by German military expansion, that Belgium established compulsory military service. By August, 1914, it had grown to 117,000 men serving in six infantry divisions and one cavalry division.But even with this re-organization, supplies were minimal: only one bullet per man was available for training at weekly range practice. Soldiers had to improvise or borrow equipment. Few machine guns were distributed, and the Belgian Army had no heavy field artillery. The Belgian Parliament refused to purchase more sophisticated weapons equivalent in quality to those used by German troops.The Belgian Army also encountered difficulties in administration. General Selliers de Moranville, Chief of the Belgian Army's General Staff, didn't want King Albert I to devise strategy, and disagreements between the two men causd conflicting orders to be dispatched; King Albert I wanted to strengthen the forts while Selliers wanted to concentrate troops in Belgium's center.The German invasion of Belgium from August, 1914 to November, 1914 was quick and decisive and provided the Germans access to France. Belgium overrun soon became Belgium occupied. Germany's invasion of Belgium helped produce the Allied resolve that ultimately won the war.The armies that went to war in August, 1914 were the largest in modern history up to that time. All were composed largely of conscripts, except for that of Great Britain which depended entirely on volunteers. The BELGIAN ARMY IN WORLD WAR I is an excellant account on one of those armies that hasn't received the publicity that it truely deserves. While this book is a very good introduction on the Belgian army in World War I, it lacks maps, a chronology, and orders of battle as well as the following mistakes:*Page 4: There was a total of twelve (12) cavalry units not ten (10) as listed in the book: two (2) Guides, two (2) Mounted Rifles, and eight (8) Lancers.*Page 4: Belgium had 117,000 men serving in August, 1914 not 120,500 men as listed in the book.*Pages 7-8: The explanation in regard to Great Britain coming to Belgium's assistance in response to the German invasion has been dismissed in light of new scholarship in recent years that show both Churchill and Grey manipulated the constant changing events to their advantage.*Page 35: More information should be given on the Belgian Expeditionary Corps and their Minerva armored cars in Russia. This company is credited with being the first to manufacture armored vehicles.Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida GuardOrlando, Florida