A statue of King Albert I in his WWI uniform, erected in Brussels after the war. Image credit: lukegeoffreyjohnson.wordpress.com

January 2, Veurne—With the front stabilized in the West, Germany now occupied over 95% of Belgium, leaving only a small portion (under 500 sq mi) under Belgian control in the far west of the country. There, Belgian, French, and British forces held the front against the Germans along the Yser canal and around the city of Ypres. Sir John French, commanding the BEF, wanted to launch an offensive in northern Flanders, with the aim of securing the Belgian coast, including the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge, both of which were now being used as German U-Boat bases. French wanted to use Belgian troops, in addition to his own, in the offensive, and had proposed on December 28 that the Belgian Army should be amalgamated into the BEF and would thus be subject to his orders. On January 2, King Albert of Belgium rejected this proposal outright. First of all, it would mean that a King would have to receive orders from a Field Marshal, or that he would have to relinquish command of his own army, neither of which he was prepared to do. Also, Belgium had so far been able to play the role of the innocent victim during the war—despite their staunch neutrality, they had been ruthlessly invaded and occupied by the Germans. Subsuming the Belgian Army into the BEF would mean giving up neutrality entirely and thus an important propaganda chip. The Belgian Army would continue to hold the line along the Yser, but would (until the closing months of the war) largely not cooperate directly with the Allies in Europe or participate in their offensives.

Sources include: Randal Gray, Chronicle of the First World War (Volume I).