A royal military adviser who tested wartime warnings with caution
After examining the Mechelen documents, he treated the warning as a basis for defence without dismissing the possibility of attack.
Raoul Van Overstraeten was a Belgian general who served in both world wars and also wrote on military history and operations. As King Leopold III’s military adviser from 1938 to 1940, he examined the German attack plan recovered after the Mechelen incident and helped turn the warning into practical defensive measures. His caution meant testing the intelligence without dismissing the possibility of a German attack. After the war, he used royal and military records to write about Belgium’s wartime policy.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1907Commissioned as an officer in the Belgian Army
- 1914Fought at Liège and Halen, in the siege of Antwerp, and in the Race to the Sea
- 1916Volunteered for the Belgian Congo campaign and fought at Tabora
- 1933–1934Commanding officer of the horse artillery
- 1934–1938Aide-de-camp to the minister of defence
- 1938–1940Commandant of the War College and military adviser to the king
- 1940–1945Prisoner of war under German captivity
- 1946–1977Writer on military history after the war
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarBelgian officer who fought in battlesHe fought at Liège and Halen, in the siege of Antwerp, and in the Race to the Sea.
- 1940–1944The Fall of France and the Vichy RegimeMilitary adviser who reviewed the Mechelen documentsHe calmly assessed the credibility of the German attack warning.
The royal court under occupation and his postwar military career
After Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, Van Overstraeten remained in Brussels under occupation and was not interned by the occupying authorities. He organized the meeting between Leopold III and Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden in November 1940. His position at court did not translate into a leading post in the postwar army: in 1944 the Allies, who distrusted him, passed him over for a senior role in the reconstituted Belgian armed forces. He retired in 1946 and subsequently wrote four books based on his archives.