Raoul François Casimir Van Overstraeten (Ath, 29 January 1885—Brussels, 30 January 1977) was a Belgian general who fought during the First World War and Second World War and, from 1938 to 1940, military adviser of king Leopold III of Belgium.
Van Overstraeten spoke Dutch and French fluently, since his father was a Fleming and his mother a Wallonian.
In 1916, he went to the Belgian Congo as a volunteer and participated in the Battle of Tabora under general Charles Tombeur in German East Africa.
After the German invasion of Belgium in 1940, he remained in the country, living in Brussels, and was not interned by the occupying forces.
[3] In 1944, Van Overstraeten, mistrusted by the Allies, was passed over for a leading role in the reconstituted Belgian armed forces.