Day Bullion

Day Bullion UK Historians, did Belgium give England 600 million to finance WW2 against Hitler? In a recently circulating email, I read the following. I am an American living in Belgium, and want...

Day Bullion

UK Historians, did Belgium give England 600 million to finance WW2 against Hitler?

In a recently circulating email, I read the following. I am an American living in Belgium, and want to research this further. Please comment, with references that I can check later. Thanks..............

''''Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the
donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England, that was actually the property of Belgium, given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler (a little known fact).
Actually, Belgium surrendered on one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could. Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its air force in the Battle of Britain, and...'''

First of all some facts about the war in Belgium :
The Belgiums held out 18 days and the Germans said afterwards that the Belgian army did a good fight (especially the forts around Liége and the Belgian artillerie gave the Germans some things to think about).
Only the airports around Brussels were bombed (I think there is confussion with Rotterdam (in the Netherlands).
Britain was at that moment less than 1 year in war with Germany and the Battle of Britain had still to come.

About the Belgian donations to help Britain :
Britain was not bankrupt but the Belgians did help the UK.
All Belgian Gold reserves were evacuated to France and Britain. Germany looted the gold that was send to France since this was not evacuated in time by the French due to the rapid advance of the Germans. It must be said that the French paid back the lost gold to the Belgians after the war since it was in their custody.

The rest was send to Canada were it was lend to Britain to help the war effort (see Source). REMARK : the source only mention repayment and NOT of ANY INTERESTS to be paid ! The Belgians owned a lot to the British in WW1 and in 1940, so they did not even think about asking interests to be paid by their brothers in arms. If Britain lost the war the liberation of Belgium became impossible and all the Belgian gold would have been of no use, so lending it to a friend at the most generous conditions possible was the best solution.

Also important was :
- ALL material that the Belgians used for equipment of the Belgian armed forces that escaped and fought with the Britains was payed CASH. Few countries that escaped to England could do this.
- a big quantity of uranium was evacuated to UK and US which made possibly the first A-bomb. If it had fallen in German hands maybe history would have been otherwise.
- All minerals and diamonds coming from the Congo where sold to the allies at almost cost price to the allies. Even the US was not that generous. This contribution is less known but it was vital for the war effort.