The Free Belgian forces (French: Forces belges libres, Dutch: Vrije Belgische Strijdkrachten) were soldiers from Belgium and its colonies who fought as part of the Allied armies after the official Belgian surrender to Nazi Germany during World War II, between 1940 and 1944.In 1940, Belgian pre-war émigrés and former soldiers who had escaped occupied Belgium were formed into units within the British military which later fought in the European and Mediterranean Theatres.