François de Bas

Who was François de Bas?

François de Bas was a Dutch general and military historian. He almost single-handedly founded the military-history section of the Dutch General Staff. He co-authored major historical works on the Dutch States Army and the Campaign of 1815, which climaxed with the Battle of Waterloo. The latter work is still the authoritative source on the Dutch-Belgian role in that battle, because it contains copies of after-battle reports of Dutch officers who participated in the battle, the originals of which were lost in a Royal Air Force bombardment of the Dutch Army archives in 1945.