As the Belgian forces, together with their French and British allies, were forced to retreat, Leopold decided that surrendering the army was the only viable course of action. On 24 May, as the government was leaving the country for exile in France, a group of ministers including Pierlot held a final meeting with Leopold at the Kasteel van Wijnendale. They called for him to follow the example of the Norwegian king, Haakon VII, and join them in exile as a symbol of continued resistance. Leopold refused, believing that as commander, he should surrender alongside his army, provoking real animosity. He also believed that, by leaving for France, the Belgian government would surrender its neutrality and become a puppet government. He also believed that, as a neutral power with no formal treaty of alliance with France or Britain, the Belgian army was not obliged to hold out as long as it possibly could if it incurred huge casualties and had no chance of defending its own territory. On 28 May, after a brief attempt to form a new government of sympathetic politicians under Henri De Man and after denouncing Pierlot and his government, Leopold surrendered to the Germans and was made a prisoner of war.