The Battle of the Sambre, also known as the Battle of Charleroi, was a military encounter between the French 5th Army, commanded by Charles Lanrezac, and the German 2nd Army, under the command of Karl von Bülow. Being part of the longer and more intense Battle of the Frontiers, it took place near the Sambre River and the Belgian town of Charleroi, on August 21, 1914, during the First World War.
Summary
Concentrating his forces on 40-km-long front, on the Sambre River, the French commander, Lanrezac, was planning an attack on the German lines across the river, when on August 21, 1914, the Germans forestalled him, launching a vicious assault of their own right before the French initiated their attack.
Lanrezac’s army was made up of 15 divisions, which had been weakened by the transfer of troops to Lorraine. These French infantry divisions were confronted by 38 German divisions from the Second Army of General Karl von Bülow and Third Army moving south-west. After fierce fighting, the German forces were able to take and secure the French positions adjacent to the Sambre.
The result of this fierce fighting on the Sambre was a German victory. The French commander lost 30,000 men, wounded and killed.
