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Flemish Liberation Front
The Vlaamse Bevrijdings Front (English: Flemish Liberation Front, VBF) also known simply as the Flemish Resistance (Dutch: Vlaamse Verzet) was formed by the Flemish government in exile when they began to bring together several resistance groups who were operating in Vlaanderen thereby creating the VBF.
The VBF while official a unified front was in fact made up of several resistance groups, the largest and best organized of them was the Flemish Secret Army (Dutch: Vlaamse Geheim Leger, VGL) who was made up of former officers and soldiers of the former Royal Belgian Army which ceased to exists when it was absorbed into the French Army, the VGL and others followed the instructions of the Flemish government in exile while several others where only part of the VBF due them needing the finance, equipment and supplies, both of which the Flemish government in exile and the Dienst Bijzondere Opdrachten (English: Service of Special Assignments, DBO), a secret service established by the Netherlands to operate in occupied Netherlands and Vlaanderen were able to provide.
After the signing of the Treaty of Arnhem in 2007 which saw the French withdraw their forces from French occupied Netherlands and saw the creation of an independent Vlaanderen, the former Flemish government in exile, now the official established government in Brussels began to disarm and demobilize the VBF, while large numbers of VBF went back to their civilian life, many former members of the VBF enlisted into the newly created Flemish Army, where they together with the former Free Flemish Army personal would form the core of the new Flemish Army.
Service of Special Assignments
The Dienst Bijzondere Opdrachten (English: Service of Special Assignments, DBO) was a Netherlands organization during the French-Netherlands War. Following the provisional cabinet approval, it was officially established on February 26th 1998, a month after the Belgian-French invasion of the Netherlands on January 2nd 1998 with its mission being to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in French-occupied Netherlands and in Vlaanderen.
Relationships
The DBO cooperated fairly well with its civilian counterpart, the Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (English: Internal Security Service, BVD) and its military counterpart the Militaire Veiligheidsdienst (English: Military Security Service, MVD) during war, usually on technical matters as DBO equipment was readily adopted by the Korps Commandotroepen, maritime special operations company of the Netherlands Marine Corps and the Speciale Depot Regiment belonging to the Free Flemish Army.
Locations
DBO maintained serval training, research and development or administrative centers across un-occupied Netherlands.
Operations
The DBO dispatched more than 140 agents into French-occupied Netherlands and in Vlaanderen of which at least 34 were killed. DBO agents arranged a total of 411 weapons and supplies droppings on numerous different sites both in French-occupied Netherlands and in Vlaanderen. DBO agents also supported the local resistance in French-occupied Netherlands and the Flemish Liberation Front (VBF) in Vlaanderen while also inciting revolt and guerrilla activity, hampering French troops movements through sabotage actions and assassinating French military and civilian officials, pro-French Netherlands and pro-French Belgians who worked closely with the French occupation administration.
Dissolution
After the French-Netherlands War had ended with the signing of the treaty of Arnhem in 2007 attempts to keep the DBO in being failed as both the MVD and the BVD made the point that they would be able to take over DBO activaties without a problem, thus DBO was dissolved officially in 2007. Most of its personnel reverted to their peacetime occupations or regular service in the Royal Netherlands Army).
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