A Belgian Standard from the ‘Tenby Memorial Committee’ was presented to the seaside town’s branch of the Royal British Legion last week, to commemorate the re-formation of the Belgian Armed forces which took place in 1940 in the Pembrokeshire resort after the catastrophic events on the continent.

The Standard was presented to Tenby’s Mayor, Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blackhall in the Mayor’s Parlour at the De Valence Pavilion by Captain Bruno Despret, a reserve officer of cavalry of the Belgian Army.

The standard was entrusted by the Tenby Memorial Committee and RBL Brussels on July 21, 2022 in the Grand Place of Brussels, in the presence of The Worshipful Lord Mayor of the City, Monsieur Phillippe Close.

Acting as a Herald for the Belgian Veterans of World War II, their families and successors, Captain Despret also brought with him the announcement of a further visit to Tenby next year, when an Anglo Belgian Commemoration ceremony will take place over September 23/24, after the event to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the re-formation of the Belgian Armed Forces in 1940, was postponed due to the pandemic.

Tenby has a very important place in the national history of the Kingdom of Belgium, with the key fact pointing to the re-formation of the Belgian Armed Forces which took place in 1940 in Tenby.

The engagement of the occupied nations in the grand coalition for the war against the Nazi German threat was not a given. This decision, on May 24, was made before the capitulation of Belgian forces on May 28, and three weeks prior to the famous BBC wireless declaration of June 18 by General De Gaulle appealing to Free French Forces to continue the fight against Nazi Germany.

Hans Rombaut, an historian of the Royal Academy of Belgium (Koninklijke Academien van Belgie explained: “An unplanned meeting was held on May 24, at the Belgian Embassy in London, with the Belgian Ambassador, HE Ambassador Emile Cartier de Marchienne, his assistant Military Attaché, Captain Charles de Cumont and the Belgian Lieutenant General Victor Strydonck de Buerkel, with the support of the visiting Belgian Minister of Defence, Henri Denis.

“They took the decision to refuse the announcement of capitulation. That became the starting point of the plan to regroup the various Belgian forces arriving in Great Britain at this coastal location in Wales.”

The work achieved by the Belgian Ambassador, and General Van Strydonck, in May 1940, supported by the UK authorities was of national importance to Belgium and impacted on national morale for the Belgians.

Tenby epitomises the place where the restoration of Belgian respect and pride was restored in 1940. As a result of this decision Belgium was able to create a Brigade sized force and contribute skilled Royal Naval and Air Force es to the Allied war effort.

Without the decision the Belgians would have to reform the Belgian Army at Tenby in 1940. The Free Armed Forces of the European nations, the French, the Dutch, the Belgians, the Norwegians, and the Poles with others subsequently made a significant contribution to the war effort, politically and militarily.

Post the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 the Belgians took on the occupation of part of Germany, the only nation to do so apart from the ‘Big Four’ - USA, USSR, UK, and France.