Belorussia Adolf Hitler annexed Eupen and Malmédy, and St Vith, to Germany on May 18, thereby recovering all frontier areas lost to Belgium under the Treaty of Versailles (1919) Believing the war lost and over, King Léopold refused to lead a Belgian government-in-exile Instead, he stayed in-country while the Belgian government was trapped in Vichy A rival government-in-exile formed in London in July that sharply criticized the king and continued to fight the German occupation with whatever personnel escaped and military resources were provided by the Western Allies Over the next four years the London government drew upon the distant asset of the natural resources and native troops of the Belgian Congo In the meantime, Léopold met with Adolf Hitler on November 19 The King sought assurances of a moderate occupation that were neither forthcoming nor in the Führer’s nature Bitterly disappointed and increasingly out of touch following his meeting with Hitler, Léopold brooded inside his palace during four years of German occupation, until most Belgians ceased to support him They turned instead to the government-in-exile in London Belgium and northern France were jointly governed by a Wehrmacht military administration under General Alexander von Falkenhausen, the least oppressive of any German governor in Western Europe Even so, Belgians suffered the usual travails of German occupation: deportation of Jews to the death camps and of other citizens to Germany as forced laborers; exploitation of the national economy to German ends at the expense of Belgian consumption; Gestapo terror; and bombing of transportation and industrial targets Although Belgium suffered less than most countries under Nazi occupation, the German presence exacerbated the already deep ethnic division between Flemings and Walloons A small group of Flemish nationalists led by Staf de Clerq and the Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond (Flemish National Union) were close collaborators not merely with the military administration, but also with Nazi social and racial policies But they were few in number An influential fascist movement among French-speaking Walloons was led by Léon Degrelle Léopold was forcibly deported to Germany by the Nazis in June 1944, as Allied forces landed in France Upon liberation and return of the rightful government from London in the late summer of 1944, Belgium reformed its Army until it fielded 75,000 men They joined Allied commands in the conquest of Germany in 1945 Still enmeshed in bitter controversy after the war, Léopold abdicated in 1951 See also resistance; Waffen-SS BELGOROD-KHARKOV OPERATION See Kursk; RUMIANTSEV BELGRADE OFFENSIVE OPERATION (SEPTEMBER 28–OCTOBER 20, 1944) See Red Army; Yugoslavia BELORUSSIA Eastern Belorussia suffered greatly in the 1930s from Joseph Stalin’s purges and forced collectivization of peasant agriculture Upon Poland’s 151