Belgian prisoners of war in World War II

225,000 men, approximately 30 percent of the strength of the Belgian army in 1940, were deported to prisoner of war camps in Germany.

Belgian involvement in World War II began when German forces invaded Belgium, which had been following a policy of neutrality, on 10 May 1940.

King Leopold III, who had commanded the army in 1940, also surrendered to the Germans on 28 May along and remained a prisoner for the rest of the war.

Virtually all the soldiers of the Belgian army who were not killed in action were captured at some point during the fighting in May 1940, but most of these prisoners were either released unofficially at the end of hostilities or escaped from poorly-guarded compounds in Belgium and went home.

[5] Shortly after the Fall of France, the remaining Belgian soldiers in captivity were deported to prisoner-of-war camps (Kriegsgefangenenlager) in Germany, Austria and Poland.

[12] From the start of the detentions, the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler were directly concerned in policy relating to the Belgian prisoners of war.

[7] Initially, the German Military Administration in Belgium viewed the continued detention of all Belgian prisoners as temporary and undesirable.

The postal service in occupied Belgium issued sets of semi-postal stamps from 1942 "for the benefit of the prisoners of war" and their families.