Adolf Proost
Born(1853-02-12)12 February 1853
Heist-op-den-Berg, Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium
Died1 March 1921(1921-03-01) (aged 68)
Allegiance Belgium
BranchBelgian Armed Forces
RankLieutenant General
Commands held4th and 5th Cavalry Division
Battles/warsWorld War I
AwardsOrder of Leopold[1]

Adolf Proost (1853-1921) was a Belgian lieutenant general. [2] He played a part in the Battle of the Silver Helmets which was a battle between German and Belgian mounted army units at the start of World War I on 12 August 1914 near Halen.

Battle of Halen

The confrontation has been called the last great cavalry charge with the white saber in Western Europe. [3] In addition to horsemen, the Germans also had twelve Maxim machine guns at their disposal, while the Belgian army had to make do with two Hotchkiss machine guns. Proost was commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade[4] and, contrary to General De Witte's orders, decided not to deploy his lancers on the designated obscure area between the woods at Loksbergen and Halen. He chose because of the better view of the approaching Germans[4] for another, more strategic[5] location, at the Iron Mining farm, which became the central point of defense during the battle.[3] The battle was a temporary success for the Belgian army, although 160 Belgians were killed against 140 Germans.

References

  1. ↑ Moniteur Belge. Le Havre: Drukkerij van den Moniteur Belge. 1917. p. 878. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "Proost Adolf (1853-1921), lieutenant general (Heist-op-den-Berg) - Archiefbank Kempen". www.archiefbankkempen.be. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  3. 1 2 Theo Herbots, the voice. "HLN Tienen No more war!". Theo Herbots, The voice, Tienen, BE. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  4. 1 2 Joe Robinson, Janet Robinson, Francis Hendriks (3 May 2017). "The Last Great Cavalry Charge: The Battle of the Silver Helmets-Halen-12 August 1914". Fonthill Media. Retrieved 2017-05-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Slag der zilveren helmen Archived 2021-10-06 at the Wayback Machine (PDF)
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