Battle of Tannenberg (1914 AD)
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
| Battle of Tannenberg (First World War) |
||
| 26 - 30 August 1914 | ||
| Fought near Allenstein, East Prussia (Today part of Poland) | ||
| Combatants | German Empire |
Russia |
| Objectives | Defense of German territory | Invade Germany in the east to relieve pressure on allies in the western front |
| Leaders | Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff Max Hoffmann |
Alexander Samsonov Paul von Rennenkampf |
| Strength | 150,000 | 230,000 |
| Losses | 10,000 - 15,000 killed or wounded | 78,000 killed or wounded 92,000 POW 350 guns captured |
| Result | Decisive German victory | |
Background
The battle of Tannenberg was on of the earliest engagements of first world war. It took place after Russia invaded Germany in East Prussia. French army was under pressure and called Russia for help. Russia planned an attack in Germany from east to relieve the pressure on France in the west.
The battle
Russian army entered East Prussia on 12th of August. They pushed the Germans back closing in on Prussian capital Konigsberg. After sensing the criticality of situation German commanders General Hindenburg and General Ludendorff were put in command replacing General von Prittwitz. Numbers were not in favour of Germans so they decided to hold the Russian army and wait for reinforcements. General Rennenkampf and General Samsonov were in charge of Russian first and second armies respectively. These two generals had little regard for each other because of a recent battlefield debacle in Russo-Japanese war and they had publicly blamed each other for the result. This was noticed by Max Hoffman as a German military observer. Instead of taking on German Eighth army as a combined force Rennenkampf decided to wait two more days for supplies and head towards Konigsberg on his own. This information was catched by Germans on radio and easily decrypted. Samsonov's army was now completely exposed and Max Hoffman decided to go for the kill. On 26th of August Samsonov's second army was trapped. Over the next four days more than 50,000 were killed or wounded and 92,000 were captured. General Samsonov shot himself on 29th August.
Decisive factors
1. Lack of co-operation between Russian generals
2. Failure of Russians in encryption of their communications
3. German rail network providing superior mobility
