Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 25 Centimes 1915-1918, KM# 82, Belgium
  • 25 Centimes 1915-1918, KM# 82, Belgium
Description

The German occupation of Belgium of World War I was a military occupation of Belgium by the forces of the German Empire between 1914 and 1918. Beginning in August 1914 with the invasion of neutral Belgium, the country was almost completely overrun by German troops before the winter of the same year as the Allied forces withdrew westwards. The Belgian government went into exile, while King Albert I and the Belgian Army continued to fight on a section of the Western Front. Under the German military, Belgium was divided into three separate administrative zones. The majority of the country fell within the General Government, a formal occupation administration ruled by a German general, while the others, closer to the front line, came under more repressive direct military rule.

From August 1918, the Allies advanced into occupied Belgium during the Hundred Days Offensive, liberating some areas. For most of the country, however, the occupation was only brought to an end in the aftermath of the armistice of November 1918 as the Belgian Army advanced into the country to replace evacuating German troops in maintaining law and order.

Obverse

Depicts a heraldic lion (Leo Belgicus) surrounded by a flower wreath.

The Leo Belgicus (Latin for Belgic Lion) was used in both heraldry and map design to symbolize the former Low Countries (current day Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and a small part of northern France) with the shape of a lion. The names derived from the Belgae are now mostly identified with the country Belgium.

Reverse

Depicts facial value inside a beaded circle surrounded by the bilingual (French and Flemish) country name, date below.

BELGIQUE • BELGIË
25
CENT.
• 1915 •

Edge

25 Centimes

German Occupation WWI
KM# 82 Schön# 47 LA# BFM-57
Characteristics
Material Zinc
Weight 6.5 g
Diameter 26 mm
Thickness 1.9 mm
Shape round
Alignment Coin
Mint
Royal Belgian Mint

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French Text

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