Belgian Army in the United Kingdom

**tinlid** · 12-24-2010, 10:08 AM

Hi,
I'm pretty sure the Belgiums & even the Dutch used WW2 British helmets after the war, & if marked with the national flag how could you know if it was done WW2 or post war?
The 4 next to HBH is probably the steel batch number, at present we don't know what maker FH is. The II stands for a mark 2 liner.
Happy christmas to you all.
Aaron

**VC89** · 12-24-2010, 02:45 PM

Thx Aaron.
I thought the II stands for a mk2, but I wans't sure.

I don't know how you can figure out if a flag is painted on the helmet during ww2 or after. But maybe we should first ask the question '"Did Belgian troops in the UK painted a flag on their helmets?". At this moment I haven't found an original picture from Belgian soldiers in the UK with a flag on their helmets yet. Maby someone else did?
So for now I think that all Belgian flags are painted on the helmet after the war.

Vinc.

**Brigade Piron** · 01-03-2011, 02:59 PM

No, the belgians in the UK did paint flags on their helmets. There are numerous pictures to support this, although not necissarily of the Brigade Piron. In fact I have yet to see a picture of a belgian wearing a helmet that doesn't have a flag on its right hand side. The Fusileer bns. (1944-45) did this particually but on the whole they recieved MkIII/IV helmets. There may have been decals used on MKIV helmets just after the war, but certainly not during it.

I.E. Halfway down this page: be4046.eu/BE_UKIntro.htm

Further, every helmet (reputedly of the belgians) in either the museum of military history in Brussels or MNHM (diekirch, Luxembourg) are without the PAINTED flag.

Thanks

**Brigade Piron** · 01-03-2011, 03:05 PM

Oh VC89

I don't think your helmet is wartime owing to the p/w chinstrap although it might have been refurbished after the war. I am not sure though...

**VC89** · 01-05-2011, 01:05 PM

It is quite possible that my helmet is British helmet reissued by the belgian army after ww2 but I don't think you can say it for sure just by the chinstrap. As you (Brigade Piron) said it could also been refurbished after the war.
As an other Example: I have an British Mk. V helmet with a Mk. III chinstrap.

The only thing I'm sure off is that the Belgian army used it before 1949.

Thanks for the link to the picture. If I remember well I checked the site www.brigade-piron.be 1st Belgian Group but couldn't find any flag on the helmets.

**Brigade Piron** · 02-22-2011, 07:42 PM

See my link above.

**stuka f** · 06-13-2011, 01:48 PM

Just found thise picture of a Belgian soldier in the Uk army on a car boot sale; I was just wundering what the horizontal bar on the sleeves means? (It seems to be black and red..)