Louvain (or: Leuven) saw grave destruction in 1940 when the German armies occupied and looted
the city. Did you know that the city also saw destruction during the Second World War?
During the second German invasion of Belgium in 1940. In this video you're gonna learn about the
forgotten Battle of Leuven, where British troops fought against the invading Germans. But why was
there a battle here? Was there a strategic value? And why was there again destruction? How that
all happened, you wll learn in a forgotten WW2 episode: the Battle of Leuven (1940). Keep watching.
Good to have you back on the channel. If you're new: I'm Stefan; I'm a Dutch history teacher and
I like to cover history. Preferably on location, like right now. I'm in the Belgian city of Leuven.
If you like that, please consider subscribing and also hit that notification bell.
In WW1 Louvain was destroyed for a large part. The Germans occupied it on 19 August 1914.
Later there was panic in the Germans ranks and as a result of this
the German commander ordered punitive measures. The city was ransacked for
five days and over 200 Belgian civilians were shot. And most infamous, the university library
was burned down by the Germans and over 300,000 ancient manuscripts went up in flames.
On 10 May 1940 the the second German invasion of Belgium started. Troop-carrying gliders dropped
78 German paratroopers (Fallshirmjäger) on top of the fortress of Eben Emael near the Dutch-Belgian
border. The Belgian defenders were surprised but did fight back. After one day the Germans
managed to capture the fortress. Other Belgian divisions hastily withdrew to the Dyle Line.
As planned the British and French took their positions on the Dyle Line as well,
but because of the swift Belgian retreat they had no time to prepare their defences.
Also their positions weren't as fortified as the ones on the Belgian-Franco border.
In order to delay the German advance the French fought against the Germans in the biggest tank
battle up until that point: the Battle of Hannut. After this they withdrew and the Allies held the
Dyle Line for a while. The battle for Leuven was one of the battles that took place at this line.
On this crossing here there was heavy fighting between German and British
troops. Where were the Belgian troops? By the time the Germans arrived at Leuven
most Belgians had been relieved by soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
British Major General Bernard Montgomery was frustrated that the Belgian soldiers didn't
want to give up their positions to the British. Eventually, on 12 May, the Belgians withdrew and
the British took up positions here in the city. However, when the British witnessed
the defensive works of the Belgians they had mixed feelings. As one British officer wrote:
‘Looking at the canal to the north of Louvain and the branches of the canal in Louvain itself
the decision to use the railway as the main obstacle was strongly confirmed.
The canal had three branches in Louvain and these were on average only 20 feet wide and the
river was low ... no bridges had been prepared and very little defensive work had been done.
I only saw one pillbox, there were, however some de Cointet obstacles, wire and rail obstacles.’
When the 2nd battalion Royal Ulster Rifles and the 2nd battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
made their way through the city they found it had already suffered badly because of German Luftwaffe
strikes. With the horrors of 1914 in their minds the vast majority of the city's inhabitants,
around 30,000 people, had begun making their way west: to Brussels or to France. The BEF
troops took up positions east of the city at the railway station. These positions weren't great.
‘The Germans had bombed the marshalling yards,
the wreckage of engines and rolling stick was piled so high that many of the pill boxes
had a view of no more than twenty yards and were therefore isolated one from the other.’
14 May, by dusk the Allied troops made enemy contact as the Germans fired their MG 34 at them.
Less battle hardened troops got nervous and as a result when darkness fell they fired their Brens
in the dark whether or not a target was in sight. 15 May, at dawn a two hour German artillery
barrage started. The Germans attacked the railway station and made it to the station yard and the
close proximity of the platforms, the ruined railway rolling stock as well as buildings that
overlooked the station worked in their advantage. At some point the Germans made it behind the train
station, but an Allied counter attack drove them away. The Allies used the subway tunnels of the
station to their advantage darting up, fire a burst and vanish, only to reappear elsewhere
to repeat the attack. The Germans were given the impression the Allies were in much bigger numbers.
16 May the order was given to withdraw from Louvain. The move was carried out successfully
without alerting the enemy. Divisional Commander, Major-General Montgomery, arrived at Battalion
HQ to express his appreciation for the battalion and its conduct in Louvain.
I wasn't able to find the exact number of cassualties that fell during the Battle of
Leuven. I read that on 10 May around 100 Belgian civilians perished in German air strikes. The
city saw grave destruction in 1914 and again in 1940 although the damage in 1940 was as
big as during the previous war: this time 'only' 67 houses were destroyed and 87 damaged. There was
one iconic building that saw grave destruction once again. Take a guess. This building? Yep.
The university library was again destroyed. This time during an artillery dual between the British
and the Germans. And all its books went up into flames. Who was responsible for it this time?
“It is still not known exactly who the culprits were. In an announcement of the German radio,
a prominent resident of the city shifted responsibility to the British. Others claimed that
the Germans set fire to the building on purpose.”
Brussel and Antwerp were captured on 17 May. The Belgian government fled to Oostende on the coast.
The Belgian army that was led by King Leopold III made one last stand during
the Battle of the Lys. It was a bloody battle in which 3,000 Belgian soldiers were killed.
King Leopold III then decided to surrender. And the Belgian surrender came into effect on 28 May.