![]() As a result the German 8 th army managed to surround Samsonov’s divisions, who outnumbered them, and the general himself, realising the hopelessness of his position, ended his life by committing suicide. The events that played out 26-30 August 1914 around Allenstein were a complex mixture of luck and accident, the uncoordinated actions of the Russian front and military commands, and the military endurance and heroism of individual units. The new German plan of operations proposed swift actions against General Aleksandr Samsonov’s (1859-1914) 2 nd Russian ( Narevskaia) Army, which was cut off from Rennenkampf’s units by the Masurian lakes. General Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937) was appointed Chief of Staff. The retired general Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), the embodiment of the Prussian military tradition, was named as the new commander of the 8 th German Army. The threat of losing its Prussian stronghold forced the German Staff to adjust their original plans and redeploy two divisions on the Eastern Front. The victory was not strategically important, and the Russian occupation of East Prussia produced a massive flow of refugees and popularization of the concept of the "Eastern March" suffering the "atrocities of the Russian Cossacks." Contrary to pre-war predictions, two Russian armies, under pressure from their Western allies, had already advanced into East Prussia in the middle of July, and on 19 July General Paul von Rennenkampf’s (1854-1918) 1 st Russian ( Nemanskaia) Army had inflicted defeat upon the enemy at the Battle of Gumbinnen. The Russian Empire’s geographical expanse meant a lengthy period of mobilization, which, in the German General Staff’s opinion, would enable them to hold eastern Germany with only one army until a victorious conclusion of the war in the West had been achieved. In the first months of the war, the German army’s tactical operations proceeded according to the Schlieffen Plan, with the main strike being directed first against France. This forced massive surrenders, and saw the almost complete destruction of the 2nd Army near Frogenau with 30,000 soldiers killed and 90,000 captured.Advance of Russian Forces in East Prussia ↑ The German field commander, General Hermann von Francois, allowed the 2nd Army to advance, and then cut them off from their supply route. Hoffmann's plan left a screening force to delay the Russian 1st Army (under General Paul von Rennenkampf) which was approaching from the east, and set a trap for the Russian 2nd Army (under General Alexander Samsonov) which was moving up from the south. While replacements taken from the West were in transit, the 8th Army's Chief of Operations, Max Hoffmann, redeployed the German forces. Due to the failure of the Germans to effectively break through on the Western Front in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan, headquarters began to panic. The German theatre commander, General Maximilian von Prittwitz, was sacked when he attempted to completely abandon East Prussia to the Russians. German infantry during the Battle of TannenbergĪt first, the battle appeared to go well for the Russians, who pushed westward before a German counterattack on August 20, which was repulsed. Here The Templar Order were finally defeated. They wanted to express that they had made good their defeat at the medieval Battle of Tannenberg or (Grunwald), in which they lost the battle to the Lithuanians. It was named after Tannenberg by the Germans. The battle ended with the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army. It was fought by the Russian First and Second Armies and the German Eighth Army between 17 August and 2 September 1914. The Battle of Tannenberg was a decisive engagement between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in the first days of World War I. ![]() Russian Army retreats from East Prussia.Destruction of the Russian 1st and 2nd Armies.
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