Battle of Haelen ( 1914 ) The Battle of Haelen , also known as the Battle of the Silver Helmets , was a cavalry battle on the Western Front at the beginning of World War I . It took place on August 12 , 1914 between German forces led by Georg von der Marwitz and the Belgian forces led by Leon De Witte and resulted in a tactical victory for the Belgians . Strategic Context . Haelen ( Halen in Dutch ) was a small market town along the principal axis of advance of the German imperial army and provided a good crossing point over the river Gete . A week after the invasion of Belgium by the Germans , the Belgian army chose the location to deal a stopping blow to the advancing enemy in an attempt to buy time to complete an orderly retreat towards the West . Battle of Haelen . August 11 . The Belgian military high command was convinced the Germans would advance towards Hasselt and Diest . To block the German advance the single cavalry division of the Belgian army , commanded by Lieutenant - General Leon de Witte , was sent to guard the bridge at Haelen over the river Gete . During an evening meeting , the Belgian general staff convinced de Witte to fight a dismounted action in an attempt to negate the German ' s numerical advantage and superior use of machine guns . August 12 . Out of communication intercepts , the Belgian HQ discovered that the Germans were heading in force towards de Witte ' s position and sent the 4th infantry brigade during the early hours of that morning to reinforce the cavalry division . The fighting erupted around 8 o ' clock in the morning when a German scouting party advancing from Herk - de - Stad came under fire from the Belgians . About 200 Belgian troopers attempted to set up a fortified position in the old brewery at Haelen , but were driven out of the building when the Germans brought up their field artillery . By this time the Belgian engineers had blown the bridge over the Gete , but the structure only partly collapsed and left the Germans an opportunity to send a force of some 1 , 000 troops into the centre of Haelen . The Belgians ' central defense line was positioned west of Haelen in a landscape which gave the attacker only an obstructed view . The relatively easy capture of Haelen had made the Germans confident of an easy victory and led to numerous ill - conceived attempts to capture the Belgian position with sabre and lance . Towards the end of the day the Germans were forced to retire towards their main columns east of Haelen . Tactics . De Witte repulsed the German cavalry attacks by ordering his men ( which included a company of cyclists and another of pioneers ) to dismount and meet the attack with massed rifle fire , which succeeded in inflicting significant casualties upon the Germans . The battle demonstrated the advent of the irrelevance of mounted cavalry charges on the battlefield . Outcome and effects . Although a Belgian victory , the battle had little strategic effect and the Germans captured most of Belgium over the next two months . The Germans suffered 150 dead , 600 wounded and some 200 - 300 prisoners with a loss of approximately 400 horses . The Belgians counted 160 dead and some 320 wounded . Furthermore , the Germans learned that the days of traditional cavalry actions were over . As an analogy to the Battle of the Golden Spurs , this battle has been nicknamed the " Battle of the Silver Helmets " for the many silvered helmets left behind by the German cuirassiers on the battlefield .