August 1914 - Belgium is invaded. Faced with the power of the German invader, King Albert I called on the Allied armies to guarantee his neutrality. After some hesitation from the French high command, General Lanrezac, commander of the 5th Army, received authorization to deploy to Belgium, where General Sordet's cavalry corps had already preceded him. Among these troops, the 24th and 28th Infantry Regiments form the 11th Brigade of the 6th Division of the 3rd Army Corps. In charge, initially of collecting the body of Sordet on the Charleroi-Brussels canal, then of defending the crossing points of the Sambre between Marchienne-au-Pont and Lobbes, these units will be involved, despite themselves, in this that history has qualified, with or without justification, as the battle of Charleroi. The fights in which they participate, both in Leernes and Collarmont, should never have happened. Fatality wanted it otherwise. The French fight against unequal forces, often more than five to one. Thanks to unpublished local archives, this work also shows the little-known aspects of the Grance Guerre such as the survival of the wounded, the care given to them by the grateful Belgian population and what became of the remains of the fallen soldiers "in the field of" honor ”. It is to these fighters forgotten in the twists and turns of "great history" that this book pays tribute.