'Tante Coba's' First 'Taste' of being under German Control took place during the Great War while she was still in Belgium, which Germany Invaded on 4 August 1914 after the Belgian Government declined the German Army access across its boarders.
By the end of September 1914 almost all of Belgium was occupied by the Germans (Antwerp Surrendered after being under Siege from August during October 1914 and Brussels Surrendered 20/21 August 1914), with only some of the regions in the extreme west still unoccupied or now active warzones (Ypres would be a good example of this in Western Belgium).
Many Civilians, and it has to be said Army Members as well, immediately fled to the nearby Netherlands whereupon all that had carried arms against Germany were interned for the duration of the war due to its own countries Neutrality, while doing their best to cater for the Refugees now crossing into the Netherlands in larger and larger numbers.
As of December 1914 Belgium was effectively under the control of Germany for the duration of the Great War to a large extent, the new ruling power being no longer the Belgian Parliament but the German Controlled Kaiserliche Deutsche Generalgouvernement Belgien, with the Ruler of Belgium now called the Generalgouverneur and based in Brussels.
This was confirmed formally by the Kaiser after he announced it in the form of an Imperial Decree in Berlin on 23 August 1914, and its important to note that this was not just for Belgium but for ALL German Occupied Territory's of the Great War.
The Kaiser Wilhelm II appointed as the Generalgouverneur of Belgium Freiherr Wilhelm Leopold Colmar von der Goltz (1843-1916), who was then replaced in November 1914 by Moritz Ferdinand von Bissing (1845-1917), who is most remembered for signing the execution order of Nurse Edith Louisa Cavell (1865-1915) who was shot by a firing squad at Brussels after being found Guilty of being a 'spy' alongside another member of her group Belgian Philippe Baucq on 12 October 1915.
The last words recorded by the Officer in charge of the Firing squad are recorded as being spoken by Philippe Baucq when he yelled just before the order to fire was given
- 'In the Presence of death we are all Comrades'.
After the Death of Moritz Ferdinand von Bissing, he in turn was replaced in 1917 by Ludwig Alexander Friedrich August Philipp Freiherr von Falkenhayn (1844-1936), who held the position until the Armistice of 1918.
Some of the changes enforced on Belgium included banning the use of the Belgian Language, with only the German Language now to be used in speech and other areas like newspapers or mail.
Other incidents that would no doubt have helped to solidify 'Tante Coba's' decision in regard to her own Mischief later in the war would have included the period now known as the 'Rape of Belgium' and the wholesale execution of members of the Catholic Clergy throughout Belgium during this period and for sometime after.
During the German Armies Offensive from August 1914 through to September 1914 German Forces burnt homes and carried out widescale executions of families throughout eastern and central Belgium with some of the worst events taking place at Aarschot 156 Killed, Andeene 211 Killed, Tamines 383 Killed and Dinant 665 Killed.
The worst however took place at Leuven on 25 August 1914 where a University holding over 230 000 Books was burnt down to the ground by using incendiaries and petrol and 248 People Killed along with another
42 000 ordered to leave the area with nothing more then what they were able to carry.
Among those who were shot were the Cities Mayor, Rector and all the Police Force while more were deported back to Germany to work in their factories from those now forced to abandon their homes.
The Germans then looted Military and Civilian areas of their foodstuffs along with other strategic materials and modern industrial equipment all of which was later transported by rail back to Germany.
In regard to the attitude of the Germans involved in the attacks targeting Leuven (Including the 94 Ton 16.5 Inch Heavy Siege Mortar 'Dicke Bertha' or 'Big Bertha' which fired a 1807lb Shell) a German Officer would later record -
"We Shall Wipe it Out.
Not one stone will stand upon another.
We will teach them to respect Germany.
For Generations people will come and see what we have done."
Other cases involved Hostages being Shot along with Priests and members of the Catholic Community including Nuns, while other crimes such as rape also took place amongst the people of Belgium as a whole.
This period is now known in history as the 'Rape of Belgium', while the Germans referred to it as being the time of the 'Schrecklichkeit' (Terror or Frightfulness).
As will be seen below the case of Gabrielle Petit has strong echoes of 'Tante Coba's' Background and future actions in more ways then one, it may have also been yet another event that helped to lead to her ultimate role after the Netherlands were invaded in 1940
- her story was also virtually unknown until after the war -
another similarity with the ultimate fate that befell that of 'Tante Coba'.
Gabrielle Alina Eugenia Maria Petit was born 20 February 1893 in Belgium to Poor Working Class Parents, she was educated under the nuns at Breugeltte' Catholic Boarding School after the death of her mother while she was still a child and by 1914 was residing in Brussels while working as a saleswoman at the age of 21.
After Belgium was invaded she joined the Belgian Red Cross almost immediately, one of her first acts of overt defiance was to aid a wounded Belgian soldier who just happened to be her Fiancé Maurice Gobert in crossing over into Neutral Holland in late 1914.
Shortly afterwards she made contact with British Intelligence and started to pass details to them on German Troop Movements she had witnessed while crossing the boarder with Maurice Gobert and during their passage through Belgium.
Shortly after reuniting with his regiment and after recovering from his Journey Maurice Gobert not wishing to be Interned then left the Netherlands with some others to continue the fight in France.
This was in fact his second escape as after the battles around Hofstade where he was wounded, he had been captured and was a POW of the Germans before he managed to escape and then return back to his parents home to recover from his wounds with the help of Gabrielle before they left bound for the boarder together.
Meantime Gabrielle had by this time been recruited 'formally' by the British to Spy on the Germans and after receiving some rudimentary training she was successfully returned back into Belgium to begin her new role.
Using a number of False Identities she was very successful in finding out details on German Units inside Belgium or heading to the front line at Ypres, as well as the railway transmission codes preceding these transports which she successfully passed onto England.
Not being satisfied with these actions, she also distributed the 'illegal' newspaper 'La Libre Belgique' and distributed mail via the underground mail service known as 'Mot du Soldat'.
Throughout this entire period she was continuing to assist men in crossing the boarder into the Netherlands -with the occasional family or child also thrown in for good measure.
During February 1916 the Germans finally caught up with her after she was betrayed by a German Sympathiser, after a period of interrogation she faced a German Court and was found guilty 1 March 1916, her sentence Death by firing squad.
The sentence was carried out on 1 April 1916 after several attempts to get her to betray her own helpers or become a double agent failed, after being pronounced dead she was buried in the same field she had been shot in at Schaarbeek in an already unmarked freshly dug grave that had been earlier prepared before the execution.
After the war when her story became known, she was loacted and then recovered to be given a formal burial during May 1919 in the Local Cemetery at Schaarbeek where she was laid to rest beside 2 Belgian Men also shot by the Germans in a similar manner.
A monument was erected in her honour in Brussels while in her home town a square was named after her.
In 1916-1917 Germanys Manpower Shortage was becoming more and more acute (again echoes of the future here), so to overcome these problems Male and Female workers were used in Armaments Factories in Germany and Belgium as forced labour.
It was during this period of the War that 'Tante Coba' started to get upto what she called afterwards her own piece of 'Mischief', while still in Occupied Belgium after being 'ordered' to work in one of these factories.