1940 in Belgium

Events in the year '''1940 in Belgium'''

Incumbents

10 January – Mechelen incident: German military plane crashes near Maasmechelen.
26 April – King Leopold III rejects the government's resignation.
10 to 28 May – Battle of Belgium
* 10 to 11 May – Battle of Fort Eben-Emael
* 12 to 14 May – Battle of Hannut
* 14 to 15 May – Battle of Gembloux
* 22 May – Alexander von Falkenhausen appointed to the head of the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
* 23 to 28 May – Battle of the Lys
* 25 May – Leopold III declares that he will remain with his troops and share their fate
* 25 to 28 May – Vinkt Massacre
* 26 May – Dunkirk evacuation begins
* 28 May – Leopold III capitulates to the invading forces, contrary to ministerial advice.
31 May – Belgian parliament in exile meets in Limoges
6 June – Civil-service secretaries-general empowered to keep Belgian ministries running while the government is in exile.
10 June – The International Red Cross estimates Belgian refugees in France to number 2.2 million.
28 June – Belgian Labour Party dissolved.
15 August – Newspaper La Libre Belgique begins clandestine publication.
10 October – Jews banned from public office by decree of the occupying forces.
28 October – Belgian government in exile, having been dispersed in France, Spain and Switzerland, re-established in London.
19 November – King Leopold III in Berchtesgarden makes a personal appeal to Hitler for the release of Belgian prisoners of war.
22 November – Single overarching trade union established.