![]() ![]() ![]() Pledged to their French allies to assume the offensive against Germany at the earliest possible date, Russia’s First Army led by General Paul von Rennenkampf assembled on the eastern frontier of East Prussia, while the Second Army under General Alexander Samsonov gathered at Warsaw. ![]() The troops in East Prussia, organized into four corps, formed the Eighth Army, commanded by General Max von Prittwitz. Some second-line troops were tasked with the defense of the Eastern Front fortresses such as Posen (Poznań), Thorn (Toruń), Danzig (Gdańsk), and Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) and to watch the Polish frontier. The choice of France for the initial offensive was actuated chiefly by the relative slowness of Russian mobilization and by the impossibility of gaining a rapid victory against Russia owing to the great distances. Hamden, CT: Archon.On August 30, 1914, in the early days of World War I, the German forces led by Paul von Hindenburg almost completely annihilated the Russian Second Army at the Battle of Tannenberg, in modern-day Poland, all but ending Russia’s invasion of East Prussia before it had even really started.įollowing the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, the German General Staff drew up a plan which provided for quick, all-out ground offensive against France, designed to obtain a rapid and decisive victory, while taking up defensive positions in the east against Russia, until the victory had been obtained in the west. Leavenworth, KS: The Command and General Staff School Press. ![]() But while the losses in men and material were replaced, the blow Tannenberg inflicted on Russian national morale was never restored throughout the war. Their failure was primarily a consequence of attempting a campaign of maneuver arguably beyond the capacity of any army under the tactical conditions of 1914. The Russians came closer to victory in East Prussia than is generally realized. Samsonov committed suicide and the Germans turned on Rennenkampf, driving the First Army back over the frontier between September 7 and 14, in the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. That gave a new German command team of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff time to develop plans already outlined by staff officers on the ground - to concentrate their entire force against the Second Army.Īfter five days of hard fighting, between August 26 and August 30, there were 50,000 Russian casualties, and 90,000 prisoners. Poor logistics and intelligence further slowed the advance, particularly in the Second Army's sector. The Russian commanders, however, failed to coordinate their movements and to press their advantage. Both initially achieved local successes against indecisive opposition. The First Army, under General Pavel Rennenkampf, advanced west across the Niemen River the Second Army, under General Alexander Samsonov, moved northwest from Russian Poland. Russia's war plan against Germany involved sending two armies against the exposed province of East Prussia, defended by what seemed little more than a token force. The principal question was whether the attack should concentrate on Germany or Austria, and the Russian army seemed to have ample strength to pursue both options. That in turn justified taking strategic risks. On the grand strategic level, the tsarist empire's major problem involved making sure its major continental ally, France, was not forced out of the war before Russia could bring its full strength to bear. The Battle of Tannenberg, in August 1914, was the consequence of Russia's commitment to an immediate offensive during World War I. ![]()
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