Back Witte Brigade German Brigade blanche French Witte Brigade HE Սպիտակ բրիգադ Armenian Witte Brigade Dutch Witte Brigade Polish Белая бригада Russian

Witte Brigade

De Geuzengroep (1940-1944)
Witte Brigade-Fidelio (1944)
LeadersMarcel Louette Edward Gierek
Dates of operation1940-September 1944
Active regionsFocused on Antwerp region, Belgium
OpponentsNazi Germany German Occupying Forces

The White Brigade (Dutch: Witte Brigade, French: Brigade blanche) was a Belgian resistance group founded on 23 July 1940[1] in Antwerp by Marcel Louette,[2] who was nicknamed "Fidelio". The group was originally known as "De Geuzengroep" and changed its name again after the Liberation of Belgium to Witte Brigade-Fidelio[3] as the term "white brigade" had emerged as a generic term to describe the resistance.

The name was chosen in opposition to the "Black Brigade",[4][5] a collaborator group led by SS-Untersturmführer Reimond Tollenaere, who was responsible for the propaganda of pro-German Flemish National League. The Witte Brigade was based in Antwerp[3] but had smaller branches in Gent, Lier, Aalst, Brussels, Waasland, Wallonia and in the coastal region.

  1. ^ "The Witte Brigade archives | Cegesoma". www.cegesoma.be. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  2. ^ "Breendonk - Memorial". www.breendonk.be. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b Witte, Els; Craeybeckx, Jan; Meynen, Alain (2009). Political History of Belgium: From 1830 Onwards. Asp / Vubpress / Upa. p. 219. ISBN 978-90-5487-517-8.
  4. ^ Sheridan, Jerome W. (2014-10-17). American Airman in the Belgian Resistance: Gerald E. Sorensen and the Transatlantic Alliance. McFarland. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-7864-9497-2.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference aerospace was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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