First of all, thanks for the replies, haven't checked this thread in a while.
(Gordon, I'll send you a PM tomorrow.)
Since it's the 11th of November (on which we remember the end of WWI), I thought I ought to make something for the occasion:
Belgian grenadier 1914Belgium was a neutral country in 1914, but when it was invaded by Germany (who wanted to evade the French fortresses this way and head straight to Paris) it was dragged into the war. The Belgian army was small and outdated since the country relied on several fortresses and the support of those who were to protect Belgium's neutrality. The fortresses were quickly destroyed though, and the army was pushed back to West Flanders. There they were able to flood the fields with the water of 'de Ijzer' and hold their ground. This area would see some of the fiercest fighting in the Great War, especially Ypres and Passchendaele. The role of the Belgian army in the war has often been criticised since, although they fended off the enemy, they didn't took part in the large allied offensives. (Some say with the idea of waiting how the war would turn out.)
The officers spoke French, while most of the common soldiers were Flemish (speaking various Flemish 'dialects'). Although the troops did receive French lessons during their training, there was a lot of tension between the regular soldiers and the officers (who were often building out careers and mostly hadn't seen action). This created the myth of Flemish soldiers dying or getting shot by the fire squad because they didn't understand their orders. The tension between the French and Dutch speaking groups are still an important part of Belgian politics.
But anyway, the situation stabilized around 1915 and all the different uniforms were slowly replaced by a khaki uniform, based on the French design. (But I believe it was made with the British khaki fabric.) But as in all armies, old gear remained in use for a long time so a mix of uniforms and equipment was mostly the case.
The parade uniform used a bearskin hat and red epaulettes but the field version used a German style Feldmütze.
Here's a good infosite on the Belgian army in WWI I just found:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/new_pages/belgian_unifs_ww1.htmI'm hoping to continue my work on the trench system very soon, I hope DS still has the parts available.
Cheers,
Gaetano
