World War II

The Spuikom in Ostend became a military air base during the First World War. In early 1917, the German army built the Seeflugstation Flandern II to defend the port of Ostend against English attacks.

A military railway line, a dilapidated monument and an anti-tank trenches surround the ruins of the Brasschaat fortress.

With its 17 bunkers linked together, the fortress of Eben-Emael was considered impregnable—or so the Belgian army thought.

A 33-kilometre-long canal zigzags from Stabroek to the Albert Canal in Antwerp. What at first glance looks like a strip of nature was initially intended to hold up German tanks.

In 2005, the concrete launch pad of a German V1 launch base from the Second World War was found in the Vrijbos in Houthulst.

In 1876, German industrialist Max Duttenhöfer founded the explosives factory "Düneberger Pulverfabrik" near the German city of Hamburg, where gunpowder and other explosives were produced during both world wars.