Battle of Charleroi

Battle of Charleroi
Part of The Western Front of the First World War
Battle of Charleroi
Date 21–23 August 1914 Location Near Charleroi, Belgium 50°24′N 04°26′E / 50.400°N 4.433°E / 50.400; 4.433 Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	France
Commanders and leaders
Karl von Bülow Max von Hausen	Charles Lanrezac Joseph Joffre
Strength
2nd Army 3rd Army	Fifth Army
Casualties and losses
11,000	14,275 (10,000 killed, 4,275 missing or wounded) [citation needed]
Charleroi class=notpageimage| Charleroi, a city in Wallonia, Hainaut province, Belgium

The Battle of Charleroi (French: Bataille de Charleroi) or the Battle of the Sambre, was fought on 21 August 1914, by the French Fifth Army and the German 2nd and 3rd armies, during the Battle of the Frontiers. The French were planning an attack across the Sambre River, when the Germans attacked first, forced back the French from the river and nearly cut off the French retreat by crossing the Meuse River around Dinant and getting behind the French right flank. The French were saved by a counter-attack at Dinant and the re-direction of the 3rd Army to the north-west in support of the 2nd Army, rather than south-west.