It brought high prestige to Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and his rising staff-officer Erich Ludendorff.Īlthough the battle actually took place near Allenstein (Olsztyn), Hindenburg named it after Tannenberg, 30 km to the west, in order to, in German eyes, avenge the defeat of the Teutonic Knights 500 years earlier at the Battle of Grunwald (which was always known as the Battle of Tannenberg in German). Eastern Europe: A decisive German victory. The battle is particularly notable for fast rail movements by the Germans, enabling them to concentrate against each of the two Russian armies in turn, and also for the failure of the Russians to encode their radio messages. #WHEN WAS THE BATTLE OF TANNENBERG SERIES#A series of follow-up battles (First Masurian Lakes) destroyed most of the First Army as well and kept the Russians off balance until the spring of 1915. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. 50,000 Russians died, one of them Samsanov, who wandered from his staff, and was later found by the Germans, apparently a suicide.The Battle of Tannenberg was fought between Russia and Germany from 26–30 August 1914, during the first month of World War I. By August 29, the Russian Second Army was encircled, and surrendered on August 31. German forces formed a thin line behind the Russians, but one they could not break. The Battle of Stalingrad Alexander Samsonov His brief in August 1914 was to invade East Prussia along with General Rennenkampf’s First Army. Rather than falling back, his flanks gone, Samsanov advanced. The next day, under an artillery barrage, his left collapsed, also retreating across the border. On August 26, the Germans struck Samsanov’s right, driving it back into Polish Russia. Other German units were also moved to the Tannenberg region and the Germans surrounded the Russian Second Army. Leaving a thin defensive line to slow Rennenkampf, the mass of the German forces attacked Samsanov. With Rennenkampf slowly advancing from the east, the Germans turned instead to defeating Samsanov advancing through forests and swamps from the south. #WHEN WAS THE BATTLE OF TANNENBERG CODE#The Russians communicated either in clear text, or in code the Germans knew. In prewar maneuvers, Samsanov had been slow, but now moved more quickly. The battle displayed Germanys strength in moving troops by train to the war front. The two Russian generals, von Rennenkampf and Samsonov, did not coordinate their movements. The German Army displayed excellent strategy. Moltke replaced him with Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. World War I 24 - Eastern Europe, 1914 and Planned Army Concentration Areas in Central Europe, 1914 25 - The Tannenberg Campaign, Situation 23 August 1914 26. With this defeat and the news the Russian Second Army was advancing from the south, Prittwitz telephoned Chief of the General Staff von Moltke to relay his plan to retreat over 100 miles. Mobilizing more quickly than Germany had anticipated, the Russian First Army invaded East Prussia and defeated German forces in the Battle of Gumbinnen on August 20. Fearful of being caught between the Russian First Army to his east, and the Second to his south, von Prittwitz hoped to defeat first one and then the other, before being caught between the two. With Germany's strength focused on defeating France, only one German army under General von Prittwitz faced two Russian armies in East Prussia. The Masurian trap.Other views: Larger, Back
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