under considerable public pressure. End of the occupation By 1918, civilian morale in occupied Belgium reached an all-time low. The early successes of the Ludendorff Offensive (21 March – 18 July 1918) were believed to have made liberation virtually impossible in the foreseeable future. However, during the Hundred Days Offensive (8 August to 11 November 1918), the Allied and Belgian armies launched a series of successful offensives on the Western Front. The Belgian army, restricted to the Yser salient since 1914, advanced as far as Bruges. German forces on the front in Belgium were forced to retreat. Following a mutiny in Kiel at the end of October, a wave of revolutions broke out within the German army. In occupied Belgium, soldiers of the Brussels garrison mutinied against their officers on 9 November 1918. The revolutionaries formed a Soldiers' Council (Soldatenrat) and flew the red flag over the Brussels Kommandantur while many officers, including the Governor-General, left the city for Germany. Fighting in the streets soon broke out between German loyalists and revolutionaries. With the German police no longer keeping order, anarchy broke out in the city, which was restored only when Belgian troops arrived. On 11 November 1918, the German army signed an armistice. The ceasefire did not, however, lead to the immediate liberation of Belgium: the terms of the armistice set a timescale for German withdrawal to avoid clashes with the retreating army. Nevertheless sporadic fighting continued. The Belgian army gradually advanced into the country, behind the evacuating German occupying force. The remaining German forces in Belgium moved eastwards towards the German border, gradually evacuating more territory. The final German troops left the country on 23 November. On 22 November, Albert I entered Brussels with the Belgian army of the Yser in a Joyous Entry. He was widely acclaimed by the civilian population. Subsequently, some of the notable activisten from the RVV were put on trial, but although the body had professed as many as 15,000 followers, only 312 individuals were convicted of collaboration with the enemy. Among them was Borms, who, from prison, would continue to play an important role in the Flemish Movement in the 1920s. In total, 40,000 Belgian soldiers and civilians were killed and 77,500 wounded during World War I. See also German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I German occupation of northeastern France during World War I Belgium in World War II Belgium