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1372_19 | stuck in a tank trap and another was knocked out by a magnetic mine. The remaining tank took a shell hit to its barrel and had its 75 mm gun disabled. It was used as a portable machine gun pillbox for the rest of the day. A third platoon was able to land all four of its tanks on Red 3 around noon and operated them successfully for much of the day, but by day's end only one tank was still in action. |
1372_20 | By noon the marines had successfully taken the beach as far as the first line of Japanese defenses. By 15:30 the line had moved inland in places but was still generally along the first line of defenses. The arrival of the tanks started the line moving on Red 3 and the end of Red 2 (the right flank, as viewed from the north), and by nightfall the line was about half-way across the island, only a short distance from the main runway.
In addition, Maj. Michael P. Ryan, a company commander, had gathered together remnants of his company with diverse disconnected marines and sailors from other landing waves, as well as two Sherman tanks, and had diverted them onto a more lightly defended section of Green Beach. This impromptu unit was later referred to as "Ryan's Orphans". Ryan, who had been thought to be dead, arranged for naval gunfire and mounted an attack that cleared the island's western end. |
1372_21 | The communication lines that the Japanese installed on the island had been laid shallowly and were destroyed in the naval bombardment, effectively preventing commander Keiji Shibazaki's direct control of his troops. In mid-afternoon, he and his staff abandoned the command post at the northeast end of the airfield, to allow it to be used to shelter and care for the wounded, and prepared to move to the south side of the island. He had ordered two of his Type 95 light tanks to act as a protective cover for the move, but a 5-inch naval artillery shell exploded in the midst of his headquarters personnel as they were assembled outside the central concrete command post, resulting in the death of the commander and most of his staff. This loss further complicated Japanese command problems. |
1372_22 | As night fell on the first day, the Japanese defenders kept up sporadic harassing fire, but did not launch an attack on the marines clinging to their beachhead and the territory won in the day's hard fighting. With Rear Admiral Shibazaki killed and their communication lines torn up, each Japanese unit had been acting in isolation since the start of the naval bombardment. The marines brought a battery of 75 mm Pack Howitzers ashore, unpacked them and set them up for action for the next day's fight, but most of the second wave was unable to land. They spent the night floating in the lagoon without food or water, trying to sleep in their Higgins boats. During the night, some Japanese marines swam to some of the wrecked LVTs in the lagoon, and to the Saida Maru (斉田丸), a wrecked Japanese steamship lying west of the main pier. They waited for dawn, when they intended to fire on U.S. forces from behind. Lacking central direction, the Japanese were unable to coordinate for a counterattack |
1372_23 | against the toehold the marines held on the island. The feared counterattack never came, and the marines held their ground. By the end of the first day, of the 5,000 marines put ashore, 1,500 were casualties, either dead or wounded. |
1372_24 | 21 November
With the marines holding a thin line on the island, they were commanded to attack Red Beach 2 and 3 and push inward and divide the Japanese defenders into two sections, expanding the bulge near the airfield until it reached the southern shore. Those forces on Red 1 were directed to secure Green Beach for the landing of reinforcements. Green Beach made up the entire western end of the island.
The effort to take Green Beach initially met with heavy resistance. Naval gunfire was called in to reduce the pill boxes and gun emplacements barring the way. Inching their way forward, artillery spotters were able to direct naval gunfire directly upon the machine gun posts and remaining strong points. With the major obstacles reduced, the marines were able to take the positions in about an hour of combat with relatively few losses. |
1372_25 | Operations along Red 2 and Red 3 were considerably more difficult. During the night the defenders had set up several new machine gun posts between the closest approach of the forces from the two beaches, and fire from those machine gun nests cut off the American forces from each other for some time. By noon the U.S. forces had brought up their own heavy machine guns, and the Japanese posts were put out of action. By the early afternoon they had crossed the airstrip and had occupied abandoned defensive works on the south side. |
1372_26 | Around 12:30 a message arrived that some of the defenders were making their way across the sandbars from the extreme eastern end of the islet to Bairiki, the next islet over. Portions of the 6th Marine Regiment were then ordered to land on Bairiki to seal off the retreat path. They formed up, including tanks and pack artillery, and were able to start their landings at 16:55. They received machine gun fire, so aircraft were sent in to try to locate the guns and suppress them. The force landed with no further fire, and it was later found that only a single pillbox with 12 machine guns had been set up by the forces that had been assumed to be escaping. They had a small tank of gasoline in their pillbox, and when it was hit with fire from the aircraft the entire force was burned. Later, other units of the 6th were landed unopposed on Green Beach, north (near Red Beach 1). |
1372_27 | By the end of the day, the entire western end of the island was in U.S. control, as well as a fairly continuous line between Red 2 and Red 3 around the airfield aprons. A separate group had moved across the airfield and set up a perimeter on the southern side, up against Black 2. The groups were not in contact with each other, with a gap of over between the forces at Red 1/Green and Red 2, and the lines on the northern side inland from Red 2/Red 3 were not continuous.
22 November
The third day of battle consisted primarily of consolidating existing lines along Red 1 and 2, an eastward thrust from the wharf, and moving additional heavy equipment and tanks ashore onto Green Beach at 08:00. During the morning the forces originally landed on Red 1 made some progress towards Red 2 but took casualties. Meanwhile, the 6th Marines which had landed on Green Beach to the south of Red 1 formed up while the remaining battalion of the 6th landed. |
1372_28 | By the afternoon the 1st Battalion 6th Marines were sufficiently organized and equipped to take to the offensive. At 12:30 they pressed the Japanese forces across the southern coast of the island. By late afternoon they had reached the eastern end of the airfield and had formed a continuous line with the forces that landed on Red 3 two days earlier.
By the evening the remaining Japanese forces were either pushed back into the tiny amount of land to the east of the airstrip, or operating in several isolated pockets near Red 1/Red 2 and near the western edge of the airstrip. |
1372_29 | That night the Japanese forces formed up for a counterattack, which started at about 19:30. Small units were sent in to infiltrate the U.S. lines in preparation for a full-scale assault. The assembling forces were broken up by concentrated artillery fire, and the assault never took place. Another attempt, a large banzai attack, was made at 03:00 and met with some success, killing 45 Americans and wounding 128. With support from the destroyers Schroeder and Sigsbee, the marines killed 325 Japanese attackers. |
1372_30 | 23 November |
1372_31 | At 0400 the Japanese attacked Major Jones' 1st Battalion 6th Marines in force. Roughly 300 Japanese troops launched a banzai charge into the lines of A and B Companies. Receiving support from 1/10's 75mm pack howitzers and the destroyers and , the marines were able to beat back the attack but only after calling artillery to within 75 meters of their own lines. When the assault ended about an hour later there were 200 dead Japanese soldiers in the Marine front lines and another 125 beyond their lines. At 07:00 navy fighters and dive bombers started softening up the Japanese positions on the eastern tip of the island. After 30 minutes of air attack the pack howitzers of 1/10 opened up on the Japanese positions. Fifteen minutes later the navy kicked off the last part of the bombardment with a further 15 minutes of shelling. At 08:00 3/6 under the command of Lt. Col. McLeod attacked, Jones' 1/6 having been pulled off the line after suffering 45 killed and 128 wounded in the previous |
1372_32 | night's fighting. Due to the narrowing nature of the island, I and L Companies of 3/6 formed the entire Marine front with K Company in reserve. The marines advanced quickly against the few Japanese left alive on the eastern tip of Betio. They had two Sherman tanks named Colorado and China Gal, 5 light tanks in support and engineers in direct support. |
1372_33 | I and L Companies advanced before experiencing any serious resistance in the form of connected bunkers on I Company's front. Lt. Col. McLeod ordered L Company to continue their advance, thereby bypassing the Japanese position. At this point L Company made up the entire front across the now 200 yard wide island, while I Company reduced the Japanese strong point with the support of the tank Colorado and attached demolition/flame thrower teams provided by the engineers. As the I Company Marines closed in, the Japanese broke from cover and attempted to retreat down a narrow defile. Alerted to the attempted retreat, the commander of the Colorado tank fired in enfilade at the line of fleeing soldiers. The near total destruction of the Japanese soldiers' bodies made it impossible to know how many men were killed by this single shot but it was estimated that 50 to 75 men perished. While 3/6's L Company advanced down the eastern end of the island, Major Schoettel's 3/2 and Major Hay's 1/8 |
1372_34 | were cleaning out the Japanese pocket that still existed between beaches Red 1 and Red 2. This pocket had been resisting the advance of the marines landing on Red 1 and Red 2 since D-day and they had not yet been able to move against it. |
1372_35 | 1/8 advanced on the pocket from the east (Red 2) while 3/2 advanced from the west (Red 1). Major Hewitt Adams led an infantry platoon supported by two pack howitzers from the lagoon into the Japanese positions to complete the encirclement. By noon the pocket had been reduced. On the eastern end of the island 3/6's L Company continued to advance, bypassing pockets of resistance and leaving them to be cleared out by tanks, engineers and air support. By 13:00 they had reached the eastern tip of Betio. 3/6 killed roughly 475 Japanese soldiers on the morning of D+3 while only losing 9 killed and 25 wounded. Back at the Red 1/Red 2 pocket there was no accurate count of Japanese dead. There were an estimated 1,000 Japanese alive and fighting on the night of D+2, 500 on the morning of D+3 and only 50–100 left when the island was declared secure at 1330 D+3.
Aftermath |
1372_36 | For the next several days the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines moved up through the remaining islands in the atoll and cleared the area of Japanese, completing this on 28 November. The 2nd Marine Division started shipping out soon after and were completely withdrawn by early 1944. |
1372_37 | Of the 3,636 Japanese in the garrison, only one officer and sixteen enlisted men surrendered. Of the 1,200 Korean laborers brought to Tarawa to construct the defenses, only 129 survived. All told, 4,690 of the island's defenders were killed. The 2nd Marine Division suffered 894 killed in action, 48 officers and 846 enlisted men, while an additional 84 of the wounded survivors later succumbed to what proved to be fatal wounds. Of these, 8 were officers and 76 were enlisted men. A further 2,188 men were wounded in the battle, 102 officers and 2,086 men. Of the roughly 12,000 2nd Marine Division marines on Tarawa, 3,166 officers and men became casualties. Nearly all of these casualties were suffered in the 76 hours between the landing at 0910 November 20 and the island of Betio being declared secure at 1330 November 23. |
1372_38 | The heavy casualties suffered by the United States at Tarawa sparked public protest, where headline reports of the high losses could not be understood for such a small and seemingly unimportant island. The public reaction was aggravated by the unguardedly frank comments of some of the Marine Corps command. General Holland M. Smith, commander of the V Amphibious Corps who had toured the beaches after the battle, likened the losses to Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. Nimitz himself was inundated with angry letters from families of men killed on the island. |
1372_39 | Back in Washington, newly appointed Marine Corps Commandant General Alexander Vandegrift, the widely respected and highly decorated veteran of Guadalcanal, reassured Congress, pointing out that "Tarawa was an assault from beginning to end". A New York Times editorial on 27 December 1943 praised the Marines for overcoming Tarawa's rugged defenses and fanatical garrison, and warned that future assaults in the Marshalls might well result in heavier losses. "We must steel ourselves now to pay that price."
Writing after the war, General Holland Smith, who in his biography was highly critical of the Navy, commented:
Some commanders involved, including Admiral Chester Nimitz, Admiral Raymond Spruance, Lt General Julian C. Smith and Lt Colonel David Shoup, disagreed with General Smith. Said Nimitz:
Nimitz launched the Marshalls campaign 10 weeks after the seizure of Tarawa. Aircraft flown from airfields at Betio and Apamama proved highly valuable. |
1372_40 | The greater significance of the action on Tarawa to the success in the Marshalls proved to be the lessons learned from the battle itself. It was the first time in the war that a United States amphibious landing was opposed by well entrenched, determined defenders. Previous landings, such as the landing at Guadalcanal, had been unexpected and met with little or no initial resistance. At the time, Tarawa was the most heavily defended atoll invaded by Allied forces in the Pacific. The losses by the United States at Tarawa resulted from several contributing factors, among which were the miscalculation of the tide and the height of the obstructing coral reefs, the operational shortcomings of the landing craft available, the inability of the naval bombardment to weaken the defenses of a well entrenched enemy, and the difficulties of coordinating and communicating between the different military branches involved. Navy battleships and cruisers had fired some three thousand shells into Tarawa |
1372_41 | in the three hours before the landings. "This was by far the heaviest bombardment of an invasion beach ever delivered up to that time. Yet it proved inadequate. ... The high explosive shells employed by the bombarding ships usually went off before penetrating the Japanese defensive works (thus) doing little real damage." For the subsequent Marshalls campaign, the naval bombardments took a month and included the use of armor-piercing shells, while the landing craft also had armor. |
1372_42 | All told, nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans and Americans died on the tiny island in 76 hours of fighting. In the aftermath of the battle, American casualties lined the beach and floated in the surf. Staff Sgt Norman T. Hatch and other Marine cameramen were present obtaining footage that would later be used in a documentary. With the Marines at Tarawa contained scenes of American dead so disturbing that the decision of whether or not to release it to the public was deferred to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who approved it. |
1372_43 | Following the battle, the 2nd Marine Division was shipped to Hawaii, leaving the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment behind to clear the battlefield of ordnance, provide security for the Seabees rebuilding the airstrip and aid in the burial detail. The 2nd Marine Division remained in Hawaii for six months, refitting and training, until called upon for its next major amphibious landing, the Battle of Saipan in the Marianas in June 1944. The lessons learned at Tarawa would be applied to all subsequent amphibious assaults as the United States worked its way across the Central Pacific. Said War Correspondent Robert Sherrod:
Legacy
Over a hundred of the Americans were never repatriated. In November 2013, the remains of one American and four Japanese were recovered from "what was considered a pristine site preserving actual battlefield conditions and all remains found as they fell." |
1372_44 | The remains of 36 marines, including 1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman Jr., were interred in a battlefield cemetery whose location was lost by the end of the war. The cemetery was located in March 2015. On 26 July 2015, the bodies were repatriated to the United States, arriving at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam in Honolulu Hawaii.
In March, 2019 a mass grave of marines, reportedly from the 6th Marine Regiment, was discovered on Tarawa. The remains of 22 marines recovered from the mass grave arrived at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on 17 July 2019. |
1372_45 | The failures of the Tarawa landing were a major factor in the founding of the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) the precursor of the current U.S. Navy SEALS – after Tarawa "the need for the UDT in the South Pacific became glaringly clear". The "landing on Tarawa Atoll emphasized the need for hydrographic reconnaissance and underwater demolition of obstacles prior to any amphibious landing". "After the Tarawa landing, Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner directed the formation of nine Underwater Demolition Teams. Thirty officers and 150 enlisted men were moved to the Waimānalo Amphibious Training Base to form the nucleus of a demolition training program. This group became Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) ONE and TWO."
Gallery
See also
USS Tarawa, for U.S. Navy ships named for the Battle of Tarawa
With the Marines at Tarawa, a 1944 short documentary directed by Louis Hayward, which won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject
Alexander Bonnyman Jr. |
1372_46 | References
Informational notes
Citations
Bibliography
Masanori Ito, Sadatoshi Tomiaka and Masazumi Inada Real Accounts of the Pacific War, vol. III Chuo Koron Sha1970.
Potter, E.B. and Nimitz, Chester (1960) Sea Power: A Naval History Prentice Hall
Rice, Earle (2000) Strategic Battles of the Pacific Lucent Books
Russ, Martin (1975) Line of Departure: Tarawa Doubleday
Smith, General Holland M., USMC (Ret.) (1949) Coral and Brass New York, New York: Scribners
Further reading
External links |
1372_47 | Tarawa on The Web
Animated History of The Battle of Tarawa
Defense of Betio Island, Intelligence Bulletin, U.S. War Department, March 1944.
The Assault of the Second Marine Division on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, 20–23 November 1943
Eyewitnesstohistory.com – The Bloody Battle of Tarawa
Marines in World War II Historical Monograph: The Battle for Tarawa
Slugging It Out In Tarawa Lagoon
"Tarawa" cat survivor adopted by U.S. Coast Guard
Oral history interview with John E. Pease, a U.S. Marine Veteran who took part in the Battle of Tarawa from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University
National Archives historical footage of the battle for Tarawa
Amphibious operations involving the United States
Articles containing video clips |
1373_0 | These are a list of characters in the computer film and TV series Casper's Scare School.
Main characters
Casper
Casper is new to the school, serves as a main character. He is a ghost who is friendly and kind. He lives with his three uncles, Stretch, Stinkie, and Fatso. In Scare School, Casper's closest best friends are Mantha, an independent Zombie girl, Ra, a not too smart Mummy whom he loves like a family and he continuously faces the dangers of Thatch, a vampire bully and the Headmasters, Alder & Dash.
Casper got Mantha's head in the episodes Power Outage: Part 1 and Jimmy Bradley: Creature Catcher from Season 1 and in the episodes Sweet Dreams, Substitute Gargoyle, Casper Meets Super Choc and Last Dance from Season 2.
Casper is voiced by Devon Werkheiser in the film, Robbie Sublett in the first season and Matthew Géczy in the second season. |
1373_1 | Ra |
1373_2 | A mummy far away from his tomb but he fits in at Scare School. He is more than 2000 years old (in the episode 2,500 Candles for Ra he celebrates his 2500th birthday) and is royalty. His full name is Ra Neferhefu Saraoftonni Sereftefnefgeranebu which is revealed in 2,500 Candles for Ra. Ra also once disobeyed his parents and forged his Dad's signature on a permission slip to go with his friends on a camping trip. He was caught but his parents allowed him to stay in Scare School. Another time, Ra, with Casper's help, showed off in front of students, making him popular, which went to his head. Thatch dared him to make a jump over the Void of lost Souls, but he didn't go through it and admitted to being a fake. In the episode Curse of the Sandwich it is revealed that Ra can also be quite gullible. Throughout the episode Ra was convinced that he was turning into a vampire after accidentally taking a bite out of Thatch's sandwich despite Casper and Mantha telling him he wasn't. When Thatch |
1373_3 | overheard Mantha and Casper talking he convinces Ra that he was becoming his mindless minion. Casper was able to convince Ra that he wasn't becoming a vampire when he pointed out Ra still had his reflection in a mirror. Of course Thatch took out the mirror in the middle of the night and by morning Ra was now convinced he was Thatch's mindless minion when he couldn't see his reflection. He was only able to finally be convinced he wasn't a vampire after seeing his reflection in a pool of water inside the caverns. His best friends are Casper, Mantha and Jimmy. Ra is allergic to poison and flowers. He is also a good singer and dancer. |
1373_4 | Ra is voiced by Kendré Berry in the film, Carter Jackson in the first season and Sharon Mann in the second season and sounds similar to Aelita Schaeffer from Code Lyoko. |
1373_5 | Mantha |
1373_6 | A zombie. Mantha is able to remove parts of her body at will. Despite lacking any physical connection between her tongue, her head and those parts of her body removed in this fashion, Mantha remains able to control said parts at all times (e.g., she is able to see using eyes removed from their sockets and detached from their optic nerves). She is sometimes unable to keep them attached to her body, Mantha once required a replacement for her arms. She successfully proves that zombies can be scary too by defeating Thatch in a scaring contest, a feat accomplished by her luring of unsuspecting humans into Casper and his Uncles' haunted house. Mantha is very proud to be a zombie and sets out to prove that zombies are more than just "lumbering, mindless things that fall apart". In the episode You Oughta Be In Pictures she helped a group of zombies (not realizing they were actors filming for a movie) fight off some humans (also actors) that were attacking because she wanted zombies to defend |
1373_7 | for themselves and not let others push them around anymore. In the end of the episode she was the inspiration for 'Z, Queen of the Zombies' for a movie, which could help the reputations of other zombies. Her best friends are Casper, Ra and Jimmy. |
1373_8 | Mantha is voiced by Christy Carlson Romano in the film, Vanessa Bellardini in the first season and Mirabelle Kirkland in the second season. Her voice is similar to Yumi Ishiyama from Code Lyoko.
Thatch
Thatch is the school bully at Scare School who is a vampire, mainly an antagonist in the film. He says he is, and seems to be popular, but a jerk instead, as he is conniving, selfish and mean. He is always looking for things to exploit and use to his advantage. His gang usually includes Slither, Dummy Girl, Mosshead and occasionally Harpy.
In the film, he deputized the Skeletwins (Mickey and Monaco) to help him watch over Casper. |
1373_9 | Thatch displays vampiric traits, mostly his ability to shapeshift into a bat and having no reflection. Unlike most stereotypical vampires, all of his teeth are sharp and he seems to have no aversion to sunlight as he has been in Deedstown several times during the day. He apparently has acid for tears as he once cried for not having the respect of his gang, his tears burning holes through his cape.
Although he's a bully, once in a while he finds common grounds with Casper and his friends, and even occasionally helps them (he even wished Ra a happy birthday), but goes right back to being the way he was before, as if nothing happened. Thatch likes to collect toy ducks.
In the episode Substitute Gargoyle he steals Mantha's head to throw it on the Scare School's floor.
Thatch has grey skin, black hair streaked with a single line of white, violet eyes, pale black lips. He wears a white shirt and a black cape with black jeans with a chain |
1373_10 | In the film, Thatch was voiced by Matthew Underwood and in the TV series, voiced by Carter Jackson in the first season and Matthew Géczy in the second season. Geczy's portrayal gives Thatch a voice similar to his previous role Odd Della Robbia from Code Lyoko.
Kibosh |
1373_11 | A green ghost who is the large-and-in-charge ruler of the underworld, usually seen terrorizing fleshies or at the scare school, he is feared by all, Alder & Dash especially. While he is less villainous than he was in all his previous appearances, he still hates both Casper for continuously refusing to scare mortals, and the Ghostly Trio for not teaching their adopted nephew how to scare mortals. In the movie it is revealed that the reason he is so tough on Casper is because he used to be just like him when he was his age. Kibosh once posed as a monster that steals creatures' powers with the use of a magic crystal in order to get Scare School to work together, but things went out of control when his leprechaun servant Raznik stole the crystal and tried to take over. But he was thwarted and Kibosh apologized for the whole mess and congratulated the students on their teamwork even without their powers and used the crystal to restore them to their rightful owners. |
1373_12 | He is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in the film, Mike Power in the first season and Matthew Géczy in the second season.
Fatso, Stinky and Stretch
Their bio will be revealed in Casper's bio.
These incarnations of the Ghostly Trio is unique as they actually treat Casper as their nephew, and not a slave they're disappointed of; though they still love scaring humans and fear Kibosh. They make several appearances during the series, sometimes to make money or to help their nephew.
Dan Castellaneta voiced Stretch, John DiMaggio voiced Stinky and Billy West voiced Fatso in the film. In the TV series, Fatso is voiced by Joe Sheridan while Stinky and Stretch are voiced by Matthew Géczy. |
1373_13 | Jimmy Bradley
Casper's human friend. Casper would occasionally leave the school to hang out with him. Jimmy is also friends with Ra and Mantha. He doesn't appear to have any human friends. His parents are at first unaware of their son's friendship with a ghost, but Jimmy's dad finds out in the special "Power Outage". Jimmy is one of the few humans who ever visited scare school. In the episode "A Real Little Monster", Casper took him to scare school, disguised as a creature named Jimbacca.
Jimmy is voiced by Brett Delbuono in the film, Adam Carter in the first season and Mirabelle Kirkland in the second season. His voice in the second season was more like the movie, unlike the first season and sounds similar to Milly from Code Lyoko. |
1373_14 | Alder and Dash
Scare school's 2 headed headmaster who wants world domination. Alder, the shorter right head, liked the quarter behind the ear trick and Dash, the taller left head, liked music. Alder can be seen with a fez and Dash can be seen with a long straight forehead topped with an Academic Cap. Dash is the smarter, more conniving of the two, while Alder is slower on the uptake, but occasionally has good ideas. They are both rude and manipulative, and delight in causing the students misery. In the movie, they were fed up with being the headmasters of Scare School and concocted a plan, and a potion, to usurp Kibosh and take over the underworld. Their plans were stopped by the return of their "Ankle" (Aunt & Uncle), Belle and Murray. Their names are a pun on balderdash. |
1373_15 | Alder is voiced by James Belushi and Dash is voiced by the late Bob Saget in the film. Alder is voiced by Graham Thomas in the first season. Dash is voiced by Robert Williams in the first season. Matthew Géczy voices both of them in the second season. |
1373_16 | Wolfie |
1373_17 | Wolfie is a shy but clever werewolf and one of Casper's closest friends, although the relationship seems on and off as he is not seen in Casper's company as often as Mantha or Ra, possibly because he's not an undead monster like Casper (Ghost), Mantha (Zombie), or Ra (Mummy). Wolfie is just like a puppy he likes to fetch, chase his tail and can't resist bones. He is usually picked on by Thatch and his gang, but every full moon, he goes berserk and has to eat in the corner of the cafeteria for the other students' safety; when this happens he grows 15 times his original size, becomes very strong, very fast, and out of control and ferociously vicious. In the episode "Opposite Day" Wolfie conducted an experiment in efforts to capture and harness full-moon light for study, but it caused an energy surge that made everyone in the school act the opposite of how they normally would. Wolfie turned savage while Thatch turned nice, and Mickey and Monaco both turned smart. Casper, Thatch, Mickey |
1373_18 | and Monico had to find a way to reverse the effect without getting eaten by Wolfie. In the episode "Fleshed Out" Wolfie walked a mile in another's shoes when he turned into a human ("fleshie") and was banished from the school. Unfortunately, Alder & Dash plotted to turn him to stone, fearing he may reveal the secrets of Scare School to the humans. Luckily, Casper discovered that, by making Wolfie angry, he could become a Werewolf again. And Thatch, while insulting and scaring some other humans, got Wolfie angry when he had learned more about humans, and angrily stood up for them, bringing him back to his werewolf self, and he was allowed back in the school. |
1373_19 | In season 2 of the show, Wolfie's role changed quite drastically. He is seen far less, often being reserved as a background character, is no longer part of "Casper's Gang" and seems to be far less kind of a character than in season 1. In the episode "Our Boy Wolfie" while out on a rampage through Deedstown on a full moon, Wolfie is mistaken by Mr. and Mrs. Bradley to be Jimmy turned into a werewolf. Though distraught, they vow to love "Jimmy" no matter what. At first Wolfie is hesitant but after being showered with love and treats, he quickly accepts his new pampered lifestyle. Jimmy, angered by this, tries to get Wolfie to leave with the help of Casper, Mantha and Ra. Wolfie of course won't budge, loving the affection he is getting from the Bradley's. Wolfie then states "He doesn't know who this Jimmy kid is" despite being friends with him and interacting with him multiple times in season 1. The next day, we see Wolfie playing fetch with Mr. Bradley, then we see Wolfie at the spa |
1373_20 | with Mrs. Bradley and finally the 3 of them going to the grocery store where Wolfie scares away all the other shoppers to make the checkout line go faster. Wolfie and Jimmy's parents both having a great time with each other. After a failed attempt to force Wolfie out of the house, all hope seems lost. Jimmy accepts defeat and lets Wolfie stay. Jimmy decides to go to Scare School in Wolfie's place, but states he at least won't have anymore chores. Casper then has a genius idea and is able to trick Wolfie into wanting to do "School night activities" When its revealed to Wolfie that school night activities include, chores, homework and a bath, Wolfie runs for his life, letting Jimmy get back to his role in the family. |
1373_21 | He is voiced by Pat Fraley in the film, Johann Geoffrey Nelson in the first season and Matthew Géczy in the second season.
Prof. Thurdigree Burns
Scare school's dragon science teacher who thinks sweat is "scare juice". His name is a play on words for "Third-degree burns" which are caused by fire or intense heat, which he is able to breathe at will. He has a tendency to bark untrue facts about "Fleshies" (the creatures' word for humans), which Casper politely tries to correct, which only aggravates Burns. He once attacked a restaurant with a Medieval theme, mistaking the employees and customers for actual knights as an act of revenge for his ancestors. But thanks to Casper, who'd come to "help" Burns, no one was injured and Burns got a satisfied "victory". He even saved Casper from expulsion at Alder & Dash's hands when they thought Casper had taken off, but Burns said Casper had been assisting him.
He is voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the film and Matthew Géczy in the second season. |
1373_22 | Hedy Hopper
Scare school's history teacher who can be only seen in a crystal ball with her head floating together with a small table, and she possesses the power of Levitation. She greatly resembles Madame Leota of Haunted Mansion fame. She's in love with Frankengymteacher. Her name is probably a play on Hedda Hoppper’s.
She is voiced by Debi Derryberry in the film, Goldie Zwiebel in the first season and Sharon Mann in the second season.
Frankengymteacher "Coach"
Scare school's Frankenstein gym teacher. His lightbulbs glow red by anger. He usually tries to teach the students to avoid angry villagers with torches, made as a reference to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but usually scares himself through a wall (literally). He's in love with Hedy Hopper.
He is voiced by John DiMaggio in the film and Matthew Géczy in the second season. |
1373_23 | Cappy
Cappy is the captain of the flying pirate ship which provides the main form of transport between Scare School and the mortal world. His species is not revealed but judging by his skin color he is some sort of undead creature. He dresses in a traditional pirate costume, has a hook for a right hand and has eye patches in front of both his eyes given he is blind but he needs this blindness to use his special sensory powers to navigate the ship. He has a talking parrot called Beaky (voiced by Kevin McDonald) who is apparently more intelligent than he is and who often helps him.
He is voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the film and Joe Sheridan in the second season.
The Gargoyles
The Gargoyles are somewhat of a security force for Scare School, as well as disciplinarians to the students. They also have a magic brew that turns whomever's dipped into it into a statue, which they usually use on Fleshies.
Other characters |
1373_24 | Mickey & Monaco
Mickey & Monaco are twins who are a, usually nice, pair of skeletons. The twins are Thatch's henchmen until in the end of the film. The make-up on the twins faces resembles Mexican Day of the Dead calavera. They're the show's example of vain stereotypical dumb cheerleader girls who always talk about make-up, their hair, and their weight even though they are just bones, etc. Mickey is blonde while Monaco dyed her hair pink. In the second season they are revealed to have the ability to share bones with each other and to control their bones when they are detached, like Mantha can with her body parts, although they find it easier when they are angry.
Mickey is voiced by Candi Milo and Monaco is voiced by Nika Futterman in the film. In the first season, Shelley Shenoy voiced Mickey and Juanny Paulino voiced Monaco, and in the second season, both of them were voiced by Sharon Mann |
1373_25 | The Cafeteria Thing
A purple monster that resembles an octopus who is usually seen in the cafeteria serving the students food at meal times. The only part of her seen on-screen most of the time are massive, magenta-purple tentacles and her dialog is restricted to shrieking and purring. Her whole body is first seen in the episode Disarmed and Dangerous when she is shocked by Mantha's temporary tentacle arm. She is sensitive to criticism as seen in Master Blist when Master Blister criticizes her which causes her to go berserk wrecking the school. She calms down when Alder praises her swamp burgers.
The Nurse
The Scare School Nurse is a Gorgon, evident by her snakes for hair, but her gaze doesn't turn people to stone. But that does not mean she isn't scary because she often prescribes painful or dangerous treatments for her patients, which she seemingly has no idea of the fear she instills. |
1373_26 | The Sea Monster
The Sea Monster lives in the moat around Scare School. He's a long, purple, reptillian serpent with a dragonish head, but despite his monstrous demeanor he's actually friendly but pretends to be vicious. He's also friends with Casper.
Mosshead
Mosshead is usually a background character, and a part of Thatch's gang. Casper once invited him to his manor for vacation but he proved to too much of an annoyance, but he and Casper made amends. He also finds out Casper's friends with Jimmy. He seems to be some sort of swamp creature, speaks with a southern accent, and is always praising Thatch.
He is voiced by Kevin Mahr in the first season and Matthew Géczy in the second season. |
1373_27 | Slither
A background character who is part of Thatch's gang. He appears to be Goth, and some kind of snake creature, hence his name. He has tentacles for arms, one of the few creatures that have tentacles. He has a crush on Dummy Girl. Slither and Dummy Girl's relationship were mentioned of romance in the Casper's Scare School franchise, as well as Mantha and Casper's relationship, only more friendship related.
He is voiced by Matthew Géczy in the second season.
Dummy Girl
A background character who is part of Thatch's gang. She's a living marionette/puppet/ventriloquist dummy. Her special "creature" power is her ability to be funny, although the other students said they wouldn't be able to tell if she lost it, meaning they probably don't think she's that funny. She has a crush on Slither. Speaks with a Brooklyn accent.
Dummy Girl is voiced by Shelly Smith Shenoy in the first season and Sharon Mann in the second season. |
1373_28 | Quasi
A background character who is basically your typical hunchback ogre monster. He is friends with Casper and gets stuck with the job of turning on and off the lights and ringing the school bell, the latter he hates doing. In one episode it is revealed that Quasi wants to be a professional ballet dancer but is unable to because he has two left feet. He speaks with a French accent. Quasi is inspired by Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
He is voiced by Johann Geoffrey Nelson in the first season and Matthew Géczy in the second season.
Flyboy Maggoty
A background character who got stuck between the teacher's door. His name is mentioned by Ra. In one episode, his father told flyboy and his friends that he used to be human, and then tried changing himself and his son into humans but stopped after realizing that his son liked being a fly.
Flyboy was voiced by Jason Harris in the film and Shelly Smith Shenoy in the TV series' second season. |
1373_29 | Triclops
Triclops is a three-eyed shy girl, but is usually a background character. She was once a victim of Thatch, who was suffering a toothache, after he stuffed her in a cupboard. Although she is a background character, she is friends with Casper, Ra and Mantha.
Triclops' first and only main role is in the episode "Triclops: Mistress of Dark" where she takes revenge of Thatch, Mickey and Monaco for their bullying and Alder & Dash for confiscating her balaclava and supposedly burning it.
Triclops is voiced by Sharon Mann in the second season.
Pumpkinhead
A student with a jack-o-lantern for a head, usually a background character. Like Mantha, his head sometimes falls off. He can also breathe fire, but to a lesser extent than Prof. Thurdigree Burns.
He is voiced by Scott Menville in the film and Matthew Géczy in the second season. |
1373_30 | Harpy
A female bird creature student and Ra's one-time girlfriend, usually a background character in which she is sometimes part of Thatch's gang. She first appears in the film, where she was in the Valley of the Shadows. She is shown to not usually speak, like the other students, with her dialogue limited to clucking, however she speaks in the second season. She dated Ra in a dance, initially too forceful, but with Casper, Mantha, and Wolfie's help, she and Ra were crowned the dance's king & queen, after displaying excellent dancing and teamwork.
Harpy is voiced by Debi Derryberry in the film, Justin Pavia in the first season and Shelly Smith Shenoy in the second season.
Blodge
Blodge is a monster made of green slime who things can flow through similar to how Casper can go through walls. Without his flowing power his slime is clear as revealed in Power Outage: Part 2 when his power is stolen. |
1373_31 | Spitzy
Spitzy is the aunt of the Ghostly Trio and the great-aunt of Casper. She was banished to the Valley of the Shadows for being too friendly. She loves her nephews dearly. She often spits when she eats or drinks.
Spitzy is voiced by Phyllis Diller in the film.
Bell and Murray "The Ancle"
Alder and Dash's aunt/uncle (ancle). Murray likes playing magic tricks and Bell loves singing. They look a lot like Alder and Dash except their clothes.
Bell and Murray are voiced by Captain and Tennille who look and sound like them.
Banana Lady
She works at a grocery store dressed up as a banana giving free samples, first seen in the movie, she kept saying "Banana cheese." She's apparently not happy with her job. She got scared by Fatso, and later seen running from the Ghostly Trio. Once in the show she says "Would you like a poo with that?"
Banana Lady is voiced by Debi Derryberry in the film. |
1373_32 | Razznik
A leprechaun and the servant of Kibosh, Razzik, sick n' tired of being treated like a slave, stole a crystal from Kibosh to steal the powers of the creatures in Scare School, stealing Thatch's power to turn into a bat, Heady's Levitation, Frankenteacher's Franken Strength, Burns's Fire-breathing, Wolfie's Werewolf powers, Mantha's Zombie powers, and scores more. But what he wanted was Ghost powers so no Creature would be able to escape him (A Ghost's Intanability), and take over the Underworld. The students figured out Razznik's weakness as a leprechaun: He must obey the one who gets his Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow. Exploiting this, the students stopped the greedy leprechaun and everything was set right while Razzik was imprisoned. |
1373_33 | Norman
A bully who picks on Jimmy. His appearance seems inconsistent; he is either a brown mullet-haired boy ("What Possessed You?") or a blond skater ("Shrinky Dust" and "A Real Little Monster"), however both boys appear to be seen together ("Bands On The Run", "What Possessed You?" and "Power Outage: Part 3") so its likely they have the same name. The mullet-haired Norman first appeared in the movie eating in the store, and was scared away by the Ghostly Trio. The blond Norman has a sister named Bethica who would stop him from bullying or threatens to tell their parents. The mullet-haired Norman appears to be pretty much aware of Casper's relationship with Mantha as he threatened to mail her head to China, which made Casper show him how to get back home ("What Possessed You?").
Comic exclusive characters |
1373_34 | Jackie Hyde
A new student that appeared in the second story of the first issue ("The New Kid"). He may appear human, but in reality he becomes monstrous when frightened or angered. Jackie is somewhat a parody of Edward Hyde from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Lists of characters in French television animation
Casper the Friendly Ghost
CGI characters |
1374_0 | The German occupation of Belgium (, ) of World War I was a military occupation of Belgium by the forces of the German Empire between 1914 and 1918. Beginning in August 1914 with the invasion of neutral Belgium, the country was almost completely overrun by German troops before the winter of the same year as the Allied forces withdrew westwards. The Belgian government went into exile, while King Albert I and the Belgian Army continued to fight on a section of the Western Front. Under the German military, Belgium was divided into three separate administrative zones. The majority of the country fell within the General Government, a formal occupation administration ruled by a German general, while the others, closer to the front line, came under more repressive direct military rule. |
1374_1 | The German occupation coincided with a widespread economic collapse in Belgium with shortages and widespread unemployment, but also with a religious revival. Relief organisations, which relied on foreign support to bring food and clothing to Belgian civilians, cut off from imports by the Allied naval blockade and the fighting, also became extremely important to the social and cultural life of the country. |
1374_2 | The German occupation administration repressed political dissent and launched numerous unpopular measures, including the deportation of Belgian workers to Germany and forced labour on military projects. It also supported the radical Flemish Movement by making numerous concessions as part of the Flamenpolitik in an attempt to gain support among the country's Flemish population. As a result, numerous resistance movements were founded which attempted to sabotage military infrastructure, collect intelligence for the Allies or print underground newspapers. Low-level expressions of dissent were common but frequently repressed.
From August 1918, the Allies advanced into occupied Belgium during the Hundred Days Offensive, liberating some areas.
For most of the country, however, the occupation was only brought to an end in the aftermath of the armistice of November 1918 as the Belgian Army advanced into the country to replace evacuating German troops in maintaining law and order. |
1374_3 | Background |
1374_4 | Following its independence in 1830, Belgium had been obliged to remain neutral in perpetuity by an 1839 treaty as part of a guarantee for its independence. Before the war, Belgium was a constitutional monarchy and was noted for being one of the most industrialised countries in the world. On 4 August 1914, the German army invaded Belgium just days after presenting an ultimatum to the Belgian government to allow free passage of German troops across its borders. The German army advanced rapidly into Belgium, besieging and capturing the fortified cities of Liège, Namur and Antwerp and pushing the 200,000-strong Belgian army, supported by their French and British allies, to the far west. Large numbers of refugees also fled to neighbouring countries. In October 1914, the German advance was finally stopped near the French border by a Belgian force at the Yser and by a combined Franco-British force at the Marne. As a result, the front line stabilised with most of Belgium already under German |
1374_5 | control. In the absence of any decisive offensive, most of Belgium remained under German control until the end of the war. |
1374_6 | While most of Belgium was occupied, King Albert I continued to command the Belgian Army along a section of the Western Front, known as the Yser Front, through West Flanders from his headquarters in Veurne. The Belgian government, led by Charles de Broqueville, established itself in exile in Le Havre, in northwestern France. Belgium's colonial possession in Africa, the Belgian Congo, also remained loyal to the Allies and the Le Havre government.
The Rape of Belgium |
1374_7 | During the course of their advance through Belgium, the Germans committed a number of war crimes against the Belgian civilian population along their route of advance. The massacres were often responses to towns whose populations were accused of fighting as francs-tireurs or guerillas against the German army. Civilians were summarily executed and several towns deliberately destroyed in a series of punitive actions collectively known as the Rape of Belgium. As many as 6,500 people were killed by the German army between August and November 1914. In Leuven, the historic library of the town's university was deliberately burned. News of the atrocities, also widely exaggerated by the Allied press, raised considerable sympathy for the Belgian civilian population in occupied Belgium. The sympathy for the plight of Belgian civilians and Belgian refugees continued in Allied newspapers and propaganda until the end of the war.
Administration and governance |
1374_8 | By November 1914, the vast majority of Belgian territory (2,598 out of 2,636 communes) was under German occupation. From November 1914, occupied Belgium, together with the occupied French border areas of Givet and Fumay, was divided by the Germans into three zones. The first, the Operationsgebiet (Operational Zone), covered a small amount of territory near the front line in the far west of Belgium. Near this zone was the Etappengebiet (Staging Zone), covering most of East and West Flanders along with parts of Hainaut and Luxembourg. The remainder of the country, the largest of the zones, the Generalgouvernement (General Government) covered the majority of the country and the French territories. Unlike the Operational and Staging Zones, the General Government was intended to be a total administration and so was markedly less repressive that the other two zones whose governance was based on military concerns alone. Civilians in the Operational and Staging Zones were officially classed |
1374_9 | as "prisoners" by the German military. |
1374_10 | The General Government was placed under the command of a German general who was accountable to the army. After a brief tenure by Colmar von der Goltz in 1914, command was held by Moritz von Bissing and later, from April 1917, by Ludwig von Falkenhausen. The German authorities aimed to use the occupation to benefit the German economy and industrial production but hoped to keep the Belgian state and economy functioning if it did not impede their main objectives.
Administratively, the German administration had a Zivilverwaltung (Civil Administration) tasked with dealing with day-to-day matters and a network of local Kommandanturen in towns and cities across Belgium. It could also call on up to 80,000 soldiers. In most cases, however, the administration was content to use the existing Belgian civil service and local government for much of its administration.
Life under the occupation
Shortages and relief organisations |
1374_11 | Before the war, Belgium had been a net importer of foodstuffs. The German invasion, together with the Allied blockade meant that as early as September 1914, various Belgian organisations had been preparing for the onset of famine in the occupied territory. Under the direction of a financier, Émile Francqui, and other philanthropists established the Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation (CNSA or the "National Relief and Food Committee") to secure and transport food to Belgium, where it could be sold to Belgian civilians. The profits from this part of the operation were then used to distribute aid. After negotiations with both the Allies and Central Powers, the CNSA managed to secure permission to import food from the neutral United States. Francqui used his acquaintance with Herbert Hoover, the future American president, to collect food and other relief through an American organisation, the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), which was then distributed within Belgium by the |
1374_12 | CNSA. A number of smaller relief organisations affiliated to other neutral countries also worked within occupied Belgium. |
1374_13 | The CNSA became a major part of everyday life and culture in occupied Belgium. The organisation fulfilled much of the day-to-day running of a welfare system and generally prevented famine, although food and material shortages were extremely common throughout the occupation. At its height, the CNSA had more than 125,000 agents and distributors across the country. Historians have described the CNSA itself, with its central committee and local networks across the country, as paralleling the actions of the official Belgian government in peacetime. In the eyes of contemporaries, the CNSA became a symbol of national unity and of passive resistance.
Economic life |
1374_14 | At the start of the war, the Belgian government hurriedly removed silver coins from circulation and replaced them with banknotes. With the German occupation, these banknotes remained legal and their production continued. To offset the costs of occupation, the German administration demanded regular "war contributions" of 35 million Belgian francs each month. The contribution considerably exceeded Belgium's pre-war tax income and so, in order to pay it, Belgian banks used new paper money to buy bonds. The excessive printing of money, coupled with large amounts of German money brought into the country by soldiers, led to considerable inflation. The Germans also artificially fixed the exchange rate between the German mark and the Belgian franc to benefit their own economy at a ratio of 1:1.25. To cope with the economic conditions, large numbers of individual communes and regions began to print and issue their own money, known as Necessity Money (monnaie de nécessité), which could be used |
1374_15 | locally. |
1374_16 | Fiscal chaos, coupled with problems of transportation and the requisition of metal led to a general economic collapse as factories ran out of raw materials and laid off workers. The crisis especially afflicted Belgium's large manufacturing industries. As raw material usually imported from abroad dried up, more firms laid off workers. Unemployment became a major problem and increased reliance on charity distributed by civil institutions and organisations. As many as 650,000 people were unemployed between 1915 and 1918. The German authorities used the crisis to loot industrial machinery from Belgian factories, which was either sent to Germany intact or melted down. The policy escalated after the end of the German policy of deportation in 1917 which later created major problems for Belgian economic recovery after the end of the war.
Religious life |
1374_17 | The occupation coincided with a religious revival in Belgium, which had always been overwhelmingly Catholic. The Primate of Belgium, Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier, became an outspoken critic of the German occupation regime. Mercier published a celebrated pamphlet, Patriotisme et Endurance (Patriotism and Endurance), on Christmas Day 1914 which called for civilians to observe occupation laws if they were consistent with Belgian patriotism and Christian values. The pamphlet attacked the authority of the German occupying government, stating that any rule legitimised by force alone should not be obeyed. |
1374_18 | In the absence of the King or government in occupied Belgium, Mercier became the predominant figure in the country and a symbol of resilience. Because of his status, he could not be arrested without an outcry, and although he was lured back to the Vatican in 1915 to remove him from the country, he soon returned. His writings were banned, however, and copies of their work confiscated. In 1916, Mercier was officially prohibited from publishing pamphlets but continued to campaign against the deportation of workers and various other German policies. Initially opposed by Pope Benedict XV, who was anxious to remain neutral, the Pope was supportive of the Belgian church but encouraged it to moderate its stance to avoid confrontation.
German policies
Deportation and forced labour |
1374_19 | The conscription of German men at the start of the war created a manpower shortage in German factories important for the war effort. From 1915, the Germans encouraged Belgian civilians to enlist voluntarily to work in Germany but the 30,000 recruits of the policy proved insufficient to meet demands. |
1374_20 | By mid 1916, the situation was becoming increasingly pressing for the German army. With the appointment of Erich Ludendorff to commander of the General Staff, the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL), in August 1916, the German administration began actively considering the idea of forcibly deporting Belgian workers to Germany to resolve the problem. The policy, encouraged by the high levels of unemployment in occupied Belgium, marked a wider turn towards more oppressive rule by the German administration. The deportation began in October 1916 and lasted until March 1917. In all, as many as 120,000 workers had been deported to Germany by the end of the war. Of these, around 2,500 died from the poor conditions in which the workers were held. In addition, in the Staging Zone, around 62,000 workers were conscripted as forced labour on local military projects in poor conditions. |
1374_21 | The deportation of Belgian workers proved insufficient to meet German industrial needs and had little effect economically. Politically, however, it led to widespread condemnation in Belgium and internationally, helping the rise of the resistance. In late 1917, under pressure from neutral powers, most of the Belgian deported workers were returned.
Flemish Movement and the Flamenpolitik |
1374_22 | In the years leading up to the outbreak of the war, the Flemish Movement had become increasingly prominent in Belgian politics. French had traditionally been the dominant language of government and the upper class of Belgian society. After a period of marginalisation, the Flemish Movement succeeded in achieving increased status for Dutch language, one of the movement's chief objectives, culminating in the legal recognition of Dutch as a national language in 1898. In 1914 new laws were passed giving further concessions to the movement, but the outbreak of war meant that their implementation had been postponed. Numerous grievances were left unaddressed. Among the outstanding grievances was the University of Ghent which, though situated in largely Dutch-speaking Flanders, taught exclusively in French. |
1374_23 | In 1915, the Governor General decided to launch the Flamenpolitik (Flemish Policy) to use the animosity between the two language groups to facilitate the administration of the territory and to portray the occupation regime as the liberation of Flanders. It was also hoped that it would give Germany some form of influence within the neutral Netherlands. The policy was especially advocated by pan-Germanists, like the Alldeutscher Verband, who believed that the Flemish shared racial traits with the Germans that the Walloons did not. The policy achieved support among some demographics, particularly among young Flemish students within the Flemish Movement. Initially, the Flamenpolitik was restricted to implementing the 1914 language laws, but became increasingly more radical. The Germans also reached out to the comparable Walloon Movement, but with much less success. In 1916, the Germans opened a new university in Ghent, dubbed Von Bissing University, in which all teaching was in Dutch. The |
1374_24 | new university was welcomed by some but encountered opposition from within the Flemish Movement and few ever enrolled in it. The policies divided the Flemish Movement between the radical "activists" (activisten or maximalisten), who welcomed the German measures and believed German support was essential to realising their objectives, and the "passivists" (passivisten), who opposed the Germans and worried that this might discredit the movement. In particular, the activisten hoped that Flemish independence could be realised with German support. |
1374_25 | In February 1917, a Raad van Vlaanderen (RVV or the "Council of Flanders") was formed with tacit German support. Its members, all activisten, were broadly supported by the Germans but were condemned by other flamingants and the Church. The Germans subsequently made Flanders and Wallonia separate administrative regions in June 1917. On 22 December 1917, without prior consultation with the occupation authorities, the RVV declared Flanders to be independent and dissolved itself to prepare for elections for a new Flemish government. The German authorities viewed the declaration ambivalently and in January 1918 rejected a draft Flemish constitution presented by the RVV. 50,000 people registered to vote in the coming elections but there were clashes with opponents in Mechelen, Antwerp and Tienen. The Belgian court of appeal sent out warrants for the arrest of two leading members of the council, Pieter Tack and August Borms, but the Germans freed them and instead deported the judges |
1374_26 | responsible. In protest, judges at the Court of Cassation, the Belgian supreme court, refused to try cases and other judges also went on strike. Faced with mounting opposition, the Germans stopped the planned elections in March 1918. |
1374_27 | Political repression
Public opposition to the German occupiers was heavily repressed. Displays of patriotism, such as singing the national anthem, La Brabançonne, or celebrating Belgian National Day were banned and those breaking the rules risked strict prison sentences. Newspapers, books and mail were all tightly censored and regulated. Numerous high-profile Belgian figures, including Adolphe Max, the mayor of Brussels, and the historian Henri Pirenne, were imprisoned in Germany as hostages. The aftermath of the Battle of Verdun in 1916 marked a turning point in the occupation and was followed by more repressive measures by the administration, including the deportation of workers to Germany. |
1374_28 | From the time of the invasion, significant numbers of Belgian men had attempted to flee the occupied territories to join the Belgian army on the Yser front, via the Netherlands which were neutral. To stop this, the Germans began work on a barbed wire and electric fence across the length of the border. The fence, dubbed the Wire of Death (Dodendraad), was also guarded by German sentries. Between 2,000 and 3,000 civilians are believed to have been killed attempting to cross the border during the conflict.
Captured resistance members were also executed by the German authorities. Famously, Edith Cavell, a British nurse who had lived in Belgium before the war, was arrested after helping Allied soldiers to escape the country and was executed by a German firing squad in 1915. Another résistante, Gabrielle Petit, who had participated in various forms of resistance activity, was executed in 1916 at the Tir national in Schaerbeek and became a posthumous national heroine. |
1374_29 | Resistance
A resistance movement developed in Belgium soon after the German occupation. Around 300 separate networks existed, often including male and female members. Resistance took various forms. Although some sabotages by the resistance, notably the destruction of the Brussels-Aachen railway line, were celebrated at the time, armed resistance represented a minority of their acts. |
1374_30 | In particular, intelligence gathering played a major role. Around 6,000 Belgian civilians were involved in gathering intelligence on German military installations and troop movements and communicating it back to the Allied armies. The organisation was run through a large number of independent groups and included, notably, the large Dame Blanche (White Lady) network. Alongside intelligence gathering were similar organisations which helped men wishing to join the Belgian Army on the Yser Front to escape occupied Belgium, usually across the Dutch border. Around 32,000 were successfully smuggled out which boosted the size of the Belgian force considerably. |
1374_31 | In addition, underground newspapers also formed a big part of resistance activity. The newspapers provided information censored in the approved press and also patriotic propaganda. Some underground papers, most notably La Libre Belgique (The Free Belgium) and De Vlaamsche Leeuw (The Flemish Lion), could reach large numbers of people. Underground newspaper were produced in a variety of formats and geographic areas, sometimes targeting specific demographics. At its height, La Libre Belgique had 600 individual contributors. |
1374_32 | The majority form of opposition, however, was passive resistance. Small patriotic badges, depicting the royal family or national colours, were extremely popular. When these symbols were banned, new ones, such as ivy leaves, were worn with similar meaning. Workers in strategic industries deliberately underperformed in their jobs as a form of resistance. The celebration of nationalist public holidays, like 21 July (National Day), which were officially banned by the Germans, were also often accompanied by protests and demonstrations. One of the most notable acts of passive resistance was the Judges' Strike of 1918, which managed to gain concessions from the German occupiers under considerable public pressure.
End of the occupation |
1374_33 | By 1918, civilian morale in occupied Belgium reached an all-time low. The early successes of the Ludendorff Offensive (21 March – 18 July 1918) were believed to have made liberation virtually impossible in the foreseeable future. However, during the Hundred Days Offensive (8 August to 11 November 1918), the Allied and Belgian armies launched a series of successful offensives on the Western Front. The Belgian army, restricted to the Yser salient since 1914, advanced as far as Bruges. German forces on the front in Belgium were forced to retreat. |
1374_34 | Following a mutiny in Kiel at the end of October, a wave of revolutions broke out within the German army. In occupied Belgium, soldiers of the Brussels garrison mutinied against their officers on 9 November 1918. The revolutionaries formed a Soldiers' Council (Soldatenrat) and flew the red flag over the Brussels Kommandantur while many officers, including the Governor-General, left the city for Germany. Fighting in the streets soon broke out between German loyalists and revolutionaries. With the German police no longer keeping order, anarchy broke out in the city, which was restored only when Belgian troops arrived. |
1374_35 | On 11 November 1918, the German army signed an armistice. The ceasefire did not, however, lead to the immediate liberation of Belgium: the terms of the armistice set a timescale for German withdrawal to avoid clashes with the retreating army. Nevertheless sporadic fighting continued. The Belgian army gradually advanced into the country, behind the evacuating German occupying force. The remaining German forces in Belgium moved eastwards towards the German border, gradually evacuating more territory. The final German troops left the country on 23 November. |
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