1944 in Belgium

Events in the year 1944 in Belgium.

Incumbents

 * Monarch: Leopold III
 * Regent: Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (from 21 September)
 * Prime Minister: Hubert Pierlot

Events

 * January
 * 14 January – Occupying German authorities order evacuation of civilians from the Belgian coast.
 * 16 January – Groupe G resistance organisation dynamites pylons to sabotage electricity supply.


 * February
 * 5 February – Occupying authorities streamline procedure for death sentences on charges of "terrorism".


 * April
 * 11 April – Heavy allied bombing of industrial targets and transport infrastructure in Belgian cities.
 * 19 April – Mechelen and Leuven bombed.


 * May
 * 21 May – Cardinal Van Roey appeals to Allies to cease bombing civilian targets in Belgium.


 * June
 * 7 June – Leopold III, under house arrest since 1940, deported to Germany together with his wife and children.


 * July
 * 18 July – Military occupation under General Alexander von Falkenhausen replaced by Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France under Reichskommissar Josef Grohé.
 * 22 July – Delegates of the Belgian government in exile are among the founding signatories of the Bretton Woods system establishing the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
 * 27 July – Collaborationist leaders Jef van de Wiele and Hendrik Elias meet with Heinrich Himmler.


 * August
 * 18 August – Courcelles Massacre in retaliation for the assassination of the collaborationist mayor of Charleroi by the Belgian Resistance.
 * 31 August – Many Belgian collaborators flee to Germany.


 * September
 * 2 September – Allied ground forces enter Belgium.
 * 4 September – Liberation of Brussels and Antwerp; Independent Belgian Brigade (Brigade Piron) enters Brussels.
 * 5 September – Customs Convention between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed.
 * 7 September – Liberation of Liège.
 * 8 September – Battle of Geel begins (to 23 September)
 * 15 September – Cinemas reopened in liberated parts of Belgium.
 * 21 September – Prince Charles, Count of Flanders appointed Prince Regent in the king's absence.
 * 27 September – Government in exile becomes government of national unity.


 * October
 * 2 October – Battle of the Scheldt begins (to 8 November)
 * 12 October – First V-1 flying bomb attack on Belgium.


 * November
 * 1 November – Operation Infatuate launched
 * 3 November – Last German forces in Belgium surrender at Knokke.
 * 8 November – Belgian Parliament lifts parliamentary privilege of members of collaborationist organisations.
 * 18 November – Resistance groups disarmed.
 * 25 November – Resistance groups demonstrate in Parliament to demand official recognition.
 * 28 November – Allied shipping starts to use the Port of Antwerp.


 * December
 * 16 December – German counter-offensive into Belgium: Battle of the Bulge begins with Battle of Lanzerath Ridge, Battle of Losheim Gap, Battle of St. Vith and Battle of Elsenborn Ridge
 * 17 December – Malmedy massacre
 * 20 December – Siege of Bastogne begins (to 27 December)

Births

 * 22 March – Alfons Thijs, historian (died 2014)
 * 31 March – Jean-Marie André, scientist (died 2023)
 * 5 April – Willy Planckaert, road bicycle racer
 * 1 June – Freddy Herbrand, Olympic athlete
 * 8 October – Maurice Bodson, politician (died 2020)
 * 21 December – Jacques Beurlet, footballer (died 2020)

Deaths

 * 14 January – Walthère Dewé, resistance leader, shot in the street
 * 28 January – Aloïs Biebuyck, officer in the First World War
 * 23 February – Leo Baekeland, chemical engineer
 * 3 March – Paul-Émile Janson, liberal politician (Buchenwald concentration camp)
 * 21 March – Pierre de Caters, aviator
 * 12 April – Emmanuel de Blommaert, Olympic rider
 * 10 May – Adolphe De Meulemeester, colonial official
 * 27 May – Adrienne Barbanson, musical patron
 * 12 August – Suzanne Spaak, resister
 * 17 August – Oswald Englebin, collaborationist mayor of Charleroi, assassinated
 * 20 August – Hippolyte De Kempeneer, film producer
 * 7 October – Abraham Leon, Trotskyist theorist (Auschwitz concentration camp)
 * 1 December – Balthazar De Beukelaer, Olympic fencer
 * 11 December – Joseph Maréchal, Thomist philosopher