Belgian Army History Pt 3: Cold War

The final interview with William Testaert of the War Heritage Institute, at the now-closed facility near Antwerp. (Don't worry, they will be re-opening the collection in Ypres), this episode focusing on the Belgian Army's experience in NATO.
This is the first batch where I have invested in bringing along a cameraman/editor, goes by FixItInPost, and as you can imagine, he doesn't work for free. Any financial support you can throw in below would be greatly appreciated. This was a test case to see if it's economically viable.
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warheritage.be/en
belgiumbattlefield.be/
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Merchandise (The carousel below seems dodgy)
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[@c1ph3rpunk]

Dude has just casually, from memory, dumped like 4 centuries of Belgian military history in a few episodes. If he hasn’t committed this all to paper as a book, someone please do so for him.

[@Vtarngpb]

"The country everybody knows." My guy!😅 I sincerely enjoyed his sense of humor o7

[@M4xFr4gg]

The fun thing is how the Chieftain just goes ahead and comfortably mentions Ukraine on the other side.

[@DanielDracohun]

Maybe he wasn't allowed to mention Ukraine because he is still a serving member of the military so any "no politics" order or the like applies to him as well.

[@marijnnn4992]

?i dont get it?​@@M4xFr4gg

[@Markh73bers]

Very interesting to listen how our southern neighborhoods dealt with the change to a volunteer army. The struggle that came with it. Very similar as in the Netherlands. That corporal-chef spoke truly with emotion. Like that guy.

[@gusgone4527]

Me too, I like him. He described perfectly the delusional mindset of the modern civilian politician. The so called post Cold War "peace dividend." Meaning elected officials thought they could cut military spending and use it for other things. Mostly, projects to buy the votes of the sheeple and secure their re-election. Of course anyone with half a brain realised that the peace Europe had enjoyed was the product of NATOs conventional armed deterrent and nuclear MAD (mutually assured destruction). The implosion of the USSR/Warsaw Pact left a huge power vacuum. With all the very predictable, associated volatile instability that followed. The fall of communism and it's fear based strangle hold on the populace. Resulted in old dormant hatreds/prejudices resurfacing. They had not been altered/cured by communist totalitarianism just put on hold. Yugoslavia's post cold war troubles being an obvious example. Also Georgian, Chechen and now Ukrainian wars. All are the consequences of NATO's Cold War victory and the disarmament peace dividend MAD-ness. We can no longer ensure peace by superior firepower. It's gone and will take a decade or more to rebuild a fraction of what we had in the 1980's.

[@seanmccann8368]

Corporals (of all varieties) tend to be honest and straight speaking people.

[@matthewcoleman1919]

Mr. Testaert is a great interviewee, a lot of knowledge there. I hope that he and those of his experience will be consulted if and when the Belgian Army returns to a more "heavy" force structure. Institutional knowledge is incredibly important, and quite difficult to regain once lost.

[@JamesKintner]

All of this is just flowing out of this gentleman's brain in his non-native language. He probably should be on the general staff.

[@robertsolomielke5134]

I was thinking this fine sir would be fluent in 4-5 language's, with an understanding of 2 more; English (very well) Flemish, Wallonian, French, German, then other partners , Danish an Dutch. Yes sir Staff officer.

[@ErwinPommel]

@@robertsolomielke5134 You think he's not fluent in English?

[@wout4yt]

Most Belgains are fluent in 2 languages, and fairly fluent or at least proficient in 1 or 2 more. FEN (Français, English, Nederlands) proficiency is standard for belgains in a professional job.

[@robertsolomielke5134]

I said Herr William Testaert speaks English "very well" and likely 5-7 language's also. I have family in Germany , and understand it is common to know multiple language's .....ZooEuropa is probably dozens of attitudes as well, as we have seen. I could fit all of Europe in my nation, yet we only speak 2 ways. W. Testaert is like 7X better at this, that is the point-TY. @@ErwinPommel

[@JamesKintner]

@@wout4yt understood, but recall, creating the narrative, and answering questions fluidly are all definitive traits in someone who has mastered the topic. Even at my best I would have to pause and gather my thoughts in my non-native speech. I was merely complementing the gentleman.

[@blogobre]

"Why do we need tanks" - politicians eh.

[@chrisschultz8598]

The US Marine Corps has come to the same conclusion. I have no idea how that is going to work out.

[@someonenamedbob]

They're getting their hands on lots of new vehicles that while no longer defined as "tanks" bear rather striking resemblances while being called "infantry fighting vehicles" instead.@@chrisschultz8598

[@geofftimm2291]

@@chrisschultz8598 The USMC depends on History, "Never in the history of Hollywood has the US Cavalry been too late!" Geoff Who notes a lack of lift, especially sea lift.

[@themoo12345]

@@chrisschultz8598Astute observers will notice that the USMC is not in fact the only ground combat arm of the US armed forces. Army tanks can and have done many amphibious operations. The marines just want to be smart with their funding.

[@chrisschultz8598]

Truly astute observers will note that the US Army and US Marines do not always agree on the distribution of forces in a combat zone, sometimes resulting to the detriment of both services. And besides, based on my Marine friends' comments, they hate asking the Army pukes for anything.

[@michaelamos4651]

So many people in the tank world who are great talkers. Seems we have found another one in this Belgian 🎉gentleman. Great stuff

[@larryjenkinson5525]

🇦🇺 Good to hear a current, honest opinion from a European/NATO viewpoint. Best part of the video!

[@bruces150]

Spent time with the Belgian Army during Reforger 1984 while serving with the 3rd Armor Division

[@brunowauters8787]

learned more about our army than when I did my my military service back in 76 with the 6t bn TTR in Lüdenscheid. Have a drink on me with Mr Testaert. You could try a tripel hop Duvel.

[@indiecomics]

Your best interview ever. I love how candid he was.

[@tacticalmanatee]

These videos are great. Mr. Testaert is a very compelling speaker.

[@MrFluidwill]

What a treasure this man is, excellent.

[@Hudsoncolo]

This historian is beyond belief. He knows more about Belgium military than I know about my genealogy. MAMa!

[@mynerdythings]

As a Belgian born Australian, I found the challenge of recruiting from only 2 locations in Belgium, a country that fits 250 times in Australia, somewhat perplexing, all the while reminded that 150k (distance fron Brussel to German border) seemed far when I was Belgian.

[@OblongLevokker]

It's a mindset you like to stay close to your family, i remember when i was little going to the coast (Blankenberge) it's a 221Km drive i'm from Liège, but it seemed like the edge of the world i was interested in the army when i was younger but i didn't have the right mindset at the time and i was fat AF and i'm more of a tank guy and we also lost that.

[@davidburroughs2244]

Thanks for the chuckle... When I was in the us navy in '87-'96 , 101 miles was the distance from the home I owned outside of Riverside, California to pierside parking where my USN ship was moored on pier one at the San Diego Naval Station... made that drive four or five times a week for years.

[@CGM_68]

Some body brought up the classic "Don't mention the war" sketch in the live stream.. KZbin : Will you stop talking about the war? John Cleese : Me? You started it. Mr. Putin : We did not start it! John Cleese : Yes, you did. You invaded [insert any of several country names here]. Choose from following list : 1991, 1992, 1993 Several conflicts in Caucaus and a border incident by the Moldova-Ukraine border. 1992_97 Tajkistan 1994_96 Chechnya (Which they lost) 1999 Dagestan 1999_2009 Chechnya again (Persistent bugger this Putin chap.) 2008 Georgia 2014 Ukraine 2015 Syria 2018 Central African Republic 2021 Mali

[@someonenamedbob]

And they wonder why no one likes them.

[@CGM_68]

@@someonenamedbob I am quick to point out, to Russians on-line, that I don't hate Russia. I hate the corrupt regime of the Kremlin and those who support it.

[@MM22966]

Belgium's Motto for the Cold War/WWIII: Everybody that tried to use us as a speed bump didn't live to regret it.

[@Casmaniac]

Silly joke: Biggest lesson from 20th century? Don't mess with Belgium !

[@marijnnn4992]

Only germany did?

[@marijnnn4992]

​@@Casmaniacye they will colonize the Congo again

[@Pyjamarama11]

" Hard to have defence in depth when your country is the size of a handkerchief " Brezhnev (Possibly)

[@jupiler02]

We had our defensive positions IN GERMANY! Half of our army was deployed there together with US, U.K., German and some other NATO troops. So, we had "depth" enough...

[@Pyjamarama11]

@@jupiler02 half your army were in Germany Where did they station the other platoon ?

[@clydecessna737]

Monsieur Testaert does is country proud; very impressive talk.

[@thurin84]

that talk about belgian current events so to speak was actually pretty fascinating.

[@jamesnigelkunjuro12]

This was a very enjoyable series to watch. I appreciate all the insights William provided, hope to see more of his thoughts on other Belgian vehicles and perhaps NATO topics as a whole.

[@ptonpc]

Excellent interview.

[@grantcox4764]

Very informative and interesting interview. Thank you chief...

[@gyorgygajdos1657]

Very informative!

[@CapnDan57]

Thanks for all 3, LtC Moran. Looking forward to the rest of your euro-tour.

[@dankorolyk5917]

Very enlightening and informative episode

[@ianwilliams9068]

Very good comments and analysis. Keep up the good work.

[@warci]

super series!! love the take on organization and modern times

[@garrettknox5266]

What a knowledgeable host you had. Just an excellent Q&A with all the props.

[@kathyroberts3905]

educational and entertaining I o longer watch tv , both of you were great.

[@Jpdt19]

Nick genuinely thanks for a truly fabulous interview there with your belgian counterpart. Fascinating and wonderfully rich while also concise. Top work

[@kalaharimine]

Very interesting talk, Voila et merci!

[@johnnyzippo7109]

Bam ! New content from the Guru of all things TANKS!

[@rvail136]

This gentleman is brilliant. Very interesting interview with a knowledgeable man.

[@russwoodward8251]

I like Mr. Testeart! A very informative perspective on the Cold War. Thank you!

[@michaelguerin56]

Thank you Mr Moran and Mr Testaert. This video series is one of the best military history series that I have watched in quite a while.

[@luislealsantos]

Chieftain show, always great.

[@jeremywilliams5107]

These ones are really the William Testaert show 😮

[@peterconnan5631]

An excellent series! I do hope we get inside the hatch videos on the Gepard and Bergepanzer!

[@coldwarrior78]

Absolutely excellent series. This corporal is more knowledgeable than most officers. Kudos to him and LTC Moran.

[@tedgalacci8428]

I like his direct frankness.

[@timstatler7714]

I knew an Army recruiter in the late 80s, whp related this story. His unit was the aggressor in NATO exercises. While passing thru the Ardennes, first the front tank was "hit" , then the last tank in the column was "hit". Following until every tank was "hit". Only then the Belgian, or Luxembourger defenders revealed themselves on a wooded hill by the road. They had not been spotted during the entire "attack".

[@obsidianjane4413]

Cool I actually clicked on this before it stated... Got to listen to 20 seconds of elevator music.

[@billbrockman779]

I did a training deployment to Jordan along with some Belgian AF guys and their F-16’s. Good bunch who managed to bring beer.

[@tonyvandermeirsch731]

The Belgian armed forces can’t function without beer. 😂 In the first gulf war we send a unit of minesweepers to aid in dessert storm together with the Dutch. When that little flotilla passed Spain they he’d to send 2 herc’s filled with beer because the stocks were gone already.

[@SportbikerNZ]

Very interesting. William speaks well.

[@allenm5443]

A great series - different from your takes on the British, French, etc., but extremely entertaining, as well as informative! For a small country, with a relatively small army, they are extremely active!

[@peterjanvanbijnen226]

what a good video

[@johngilbert6036]

I worked for a city and good old Low Bid you really had to make your specifications right or junk you got. I loved his point they bought off State Bid.

[@patrickford423]

I like this guy

[@brunowauters8787]

Bedankt

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

Appreciate it!

[@marky657]

What a hoot, "The country everybody knows".

[@davedavedave52]

I never hear of the Belgian military. TY for this piece

[@janwitts2688]

I like the real take of this channel...

Excellent Video. From a german tank nerds point of view with a littel envy, because there are a lot of vehicles in that hall that the german tank museum lacks :) Would be nice to have a Chieftain. After all it spend a good deal of its time not far from the Panzermuseum.

[@fransdebruyne8643]

Very,very good and interresting story how it go's in Belgium ,as a Belgian I can say his guy tell the truth .

[@michaelscaplis]

Suddenly nobody found the spare parts 😂

[@---nb7ll]

22:14…Santaannderrr, eres tierraaa del maaarrr… buen homenaje de nicholas moran a jorge Sepúlveda 👏👍

[@cedhome7945]

Any chance you could do a follow up on the war in Ukraine, thought's and observations as there's lots of information to consider

[@lordbyron8927]

Lol, the guy is straight out of unhappy town. The attempt of making a joke was classic.😅

[@tomhenry897]

Never knew had such a large army

[@micumatrix]

It gives a very good overview of most Western Europe armament programs since WW2. Getting new tanks can be an issue now, but Rheinmetall finished new production plants in Hungary and Germany is buying some Boxer made in Australia by Rheinmetall. I think some Abrams are better than nothing or get a small number of K2 from Poland (or their Leo2 or Abrams, when the K2 arrives).

[@davidlefranc6240]

I appreciate alot the honesty of m.Testaert he's not an ass licker for sure he say things like they are I HOPE the country involved listen !

[@johnmc703]

Maybe the new M10 Booker would make a great fit for the Belgium plans

[@Big-boi92]

Have you had a chance to look at the AIFV and the AIFV-25? I really like those vehicles They're the benelux discount Bradleys

[@Monkey-ud8bw]

He took a while to warm up, but when he did there was no stopping him (other than naming “the country that everyone knows”).

[@patrickwentz8413]

Well Uncle Sugar has around 3700 M1 tanks in storage depots. I guess we could possibly spare a few for a few gallons of Belgium beer or hard cider. We drive a hard bargain these days.

[@marijnnn4992]

4:08 this guy is realy smart and funny whit out trying

[@michaelscaplis]

There is one M46 at Gunfire Brasschaat (not shown in the footage - it's located outside in front of the hangar where the video was shot). Formerly on Gunfire scrap yard. Moved to front of hangar I27 in June 2022. Belgian Army had 10 of these as training tanks to convert crews from M26 to M47. They were briefly slated to be used by the short lived NATO JTTC (Joint Tank Training Center) at Leopoldsburg. The JTTC would be training Belgian, Dutch and Danish tank crews on the M47. The US needed the M47's for their own army due to the Korean War, therefore the Dutch and Danes were supplied with Centurion tanks (bought by the US from the UK under the MDAP). This meant there was no longer a need for a JTTC. This particular M46 at the museum was later used for C.R.A.C Combat Rapproché Anti-Char training.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

I wonder if the design of the M75 influenced the British FV432? Very similar in shape.

[@TotalRookie_LV]

Well, bad times in economy do indeed bring in a lot of new guys enrolling into professional service, BUT at the same time budget cuts may force some already serving and more experienced soldiers to look for better pay in French Foreign Legion, Australia or some PMCs, this to some degree happened here in Latvia in 2008-2009.

[@SynapseDriven]

More of the little testy caporal plz :)

[@jeromethiel4323]

Jaeger Cannonen looks like a hetzer. And as we all know, hetzers gonna hetz! ^-^ Please don't kill me, i just wanted to say "hetzers gonna hetz" because i find it hilarious.

[@ratscoot]

More a modern descendent of the WW2 Jagdpanzer IV. In the eighties Germany converted KJp 90’s to launch TOW anti tank rockets naming it Raketten Jagdpanzer.

[@geertdecoster5301]

The one good thing out of the story that shouldn't be mentioned is that the country that everyone knows is using decent material. During the second decade of this century the lack of ready available infantry battalions to police the country has already been shown up. Any future for the Belgian Army is once again the regional attachment of large enough units to specific regions or towns, and thus also the maintenance of decent enough overal armament. Perhaps more permament militia based and spreading the tanks around a bit then too

[@user-jz3jt3cq9w]

love the Belgians, they punch well above their weight, especially in the Korean war.

[@BR-nh9ki]

I would be very much interested to hear Monsieur Testaert talk about the challenges the Belgian Armed Forces face that originate in the trilingual nature of Belgium.

[@thomasvan7738]

As a Belgian (not military), I can anwser that for you: all soldiers are required to learn the other language, meaning French or Dutch. Most units are split by the native language of the soldiers, but there are billingual units too (Special forces for example). And English is also widely used, specially in the airforce. I'm not sure about the policies regarding German.

[@jupiler02]

At the time I would not have had a lot of problems switching from a Flemish/Dutch speaking tank platoon to a French, English or German speaking tank platoon...from a language perspective.

[@user-ru3re2nv1t]

Trained and worked with Belgians good lads 😊

[@1BigBen]

today with LIMA gearing up Belgium could get 50+, but LIMA has around 500 backlog so they could need to wait till 2027 Belgium could get South Korea K2 Main Battle Tank and Plug into Poland system as they are gonna make their own part moving on and PGZ will be making also K9PL variant IF they like 155 with tracks

[@Trancefreakeh]

It's weird listening to these videos. Part of me is proud, another part me rolls my eyes ^^. Thanks for the focus on Belgium. We're a weird country, a political mess but I dare say that we can offer something valuable once in a while even being this dysfunctional and small.

[@Gliese380]

Hoe onzeker toch weer.

[@edl617]

Looks like a lot of functional tanks

[@jorenbaplu5100]

Belgium deserves a light tank line in the tank games, with the Cobra and with belgian versions of these British, german and american tanks (Scorpion, Scimitar, Leopards, M41 bulldog, M47, firefly, etc....)

[@justforever96]

"we paid for it of course" That's national pride speaking right there. I like it.

[@koenvangeleuken6544]

very interesting, you were lucky to get this guy.! about the recruitment problems, the spanish have a nice solution: south americans who join the spanish army,all speaking spanish of course, get a spanish passport after so many years! several years ago i read 30% percent of the spanish soldiers are from south america.

[@henrikoldcorn]

Text at the start of the video says "Testaert William ", but the reverse is said aloud and is in the description. He has a LinkedIn account under both names!

[@avilhelm1697]

What kinds of ammo did the Belgian jag panzer use? The Germans pretty much only used HEAT and smoke as far as I know. Would be interesting if the Belgians went about it a bit different.

[@RDEnduro]

"We could kick a door at 900m .."

[@MarktheRude]

7:43 bird.

[@jorenbaplu5100]

As a belgian i'd indeed prefer if we buy european instead of american. We already spend a ton of money on the F-35, which could end up being a massive waste if they decide to elect their annoying orange again

[@johndoe-so2ef]

As an American, I can tell you that we have no concern about what you think. Only democrats give a f*** about euro trash.

[@markyoung950]

How about Polish made Korean K2 tanks? Or Japanese?

[@Werkplaatsvlog]

Are you still in Belgium? You're welcome to visit our workshop if you like!

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

No, long gone. But I could be back.

[@Werkplaatsvlog]

Excellent, make sure to let me know if you're in the area again and you would like to drop by.@@TheChieftainsHatch

[@patttrick]

Very good. Who's the company everyone knows? I don't

[@ratscoot]

OIP land systems

[@patttrick]

@@ratscoot cheers

[@GeneralGayJay]

Well Belgium has always been the speed-bump of Europe ❤

[@pourlemerite]

Might need to reach out to Jingles at the Moment 🙁

[@Duckfisher0222]

Leave Belgium alone, we did nothing to you people! :P Enjoyed the vid!

[@DeepDez]

To describe him as a Corporal Chef in your opener, does him an injustice. The Chef in his title is the belgian for Chief. A corporal is not always a 2 striper. Think. In the british army, A Corporal of horse is a Very Senior Sergeant Major. Guillaume is in regular contact with staff officers all over the world & is a positive force within the WHI.

[@jeromethiel4323]

I would take a small, well trained, and motivated army over a huge conscripted army any day. Sure, you might get swamped by numbers. But you'll make them pay, and slow them enough to get a conscripted army of your own in place if needed.

[@UnNuclear]

I bet the Koreans would love to sell their Panther to Belgium.

[@davidmeek8017]

Aloha; outstanding! Mahalo. Noticed that the Belgian Congo did not come up.

[@BenjaminDamien]

Why should it?

[@JeffHenry-cq3is]

So what was there job during the Cold War

[@jeffreypierson2064]

3:15 Three infantry divisions and one tank division was part of I Belgian Corp in NORTHAG Army Group.

[@VitaminsB1212]

It's interesting to me that Canada went into Afghanistan with the idea that we'd get rid of all of our tanks and replace them with wheeled vehicles because why would you need tanks (same thinking as Belgium) but then we deployed some C2 Leopards and discovered, oh hey, tanks are actually really useful maybe we should get more of these and we ended up in a weird hot-potato of lending then trading then buying Leo 2s. Whereas Belgium didn't come to the same conclusion and change their minds, despite operating in the same environment. Interesting how two rational actors in the same environment can come to two different conclusions. There's more than a few parallels between the CAF and Belgium - both small militaries, asked to do a lot by its politicians while being chronically under funded and under manned and also being neighbors to giant arms manufacturers/military powers. Sure Canada has a bit more military manufacturing capability but it's not actually that much (LAV/STRYKER, some Small Arms and supposedly but not really a Naval building capability) neither country is able to meet their own demands domestically outside of small arms meaning they are both required to enter into the murky world of Foreign Military procurements with Governments notorious for not wanting to spend money. The Belgians have probably done a better job integrating into wider defense framework to maximize their capabilities - Canada is still masquerading as an independent full spectrum military power

[@briandenison2325]

What’s wrong with saying Ukraine?

[@jurgschupbach3059]

Eben Emael........Hohlladungen