The Battle of Halen

Halen 14 - German Jaeger's Consolidate The gate of the Wauters Brewery, which was the width of a cart, was used to provisionally connect both riverbanks to allow the follow-on German…

Halen 13 - German Jaeger's Attack 5             As Van Overstraeten stated in 1964, Capt.-Commandant Tasnier had confirmed to him "two squadrons of Guides occupied Velpen and that the Lancers' right…

Halen 12 - German Jaeger's Attack 4 One of de Witte's staff officers, Van Overstraeten, was to play a leading role in the battle and reported his recollections in 1964. He…

Halen 10 - German Jaeger's Attack 2 0810 Hours. At the Gete River bridge, the 3rd Company/Cy  Battalion at the railroad station fired on a German reconnaissance patrol. A handwritten report…

Halen 9 - German Jaeger's Attack 10300 Hours. A telephone call was received by the Belgian Cavalry Division Staff. "From Herk came the message that twelve German cavalrymen had crossed…

Halen  8 Duffer’s DriftThe Belgians had set the defense. Tactically, how close are they to established norms if there were established norms. One of the simple lessons taught in many…

Halen 7 Belgian Defense-2Defending a river line can be tricky because of the lines of visibility. It was de Witte's decision to make maximum use of visibility by setting up…

Halen 6 - Belgian defense-1The Belgian Cavalry Division was commanded by 57-year-old Lt. Gen de Witte. The fifth Lancer Regiment was pretty much brand-new and had been formed at the…

Halen 5- Estimate of the situation, How to approach this?Lt. Gen. von der Marwitz commander of HKK 2, had a very clear objective. Somehow, he needed to pry the left…

Halen 4- Belgian Forces The Belgian Cavalry Division consisted of two brigades, a separate battalion of Cyclists, and a horse artillery battalion of twelve guns divided into three batteries. The…