Consequently, their armies could only be transported by rail as far as the German border and could only use Prussian railways with captured locomotives and rolling stock. The railways ended at the border, as for defensive reasons Russian trains operated on a different rail gauge than Western Europe. The Russians would rely on two of their three railways that ran up to the border each would provision an army. Somewhat east of the centre of the province was the heavily fortified peninsula on which its capital Königsberg (Kaliningrad, Russia) was located. On the north was the Baltic and on the south was the border with Poland it was about 130 km (81 mi) wide. Įast Prussia was a vulnerable salient thrust into Russian territory, extending from the Vistula River in the west to the border with Lithuania in the east, a distance of roughly 190 km (120 mi).
Despite their difficulties the Russians promised the French that they would promptly engage the armies of Austria-Hungary in the south and on day 15 would invade German East Prussia. They intended to have 27 divisions at the front by day 15 and 52 by day 23, but it would take 60 days before ninety divisions were in action. Getting their men to the war front would also be delayed because their railway network was far behind western European standards for instance, three-quarters was still single-tracked. Their Russian allies would have a massive army, more than ninety-five divisions, but their mobilisation would inevitably be somewhat slower. If the British joined as promised, they would become the left flank. The French war plan was to attack as soon as their army was mobilised to drive the Germans from Alsace and Lorraine. 3.2 Early phases of battle: 23–26 August.3.1 Consolidation of the German Eighth Army.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, to avenge the defeat of the Teutonic Knights at the earlier battle of that name in 1410. 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.
#BATTLE OF TANNENBERG LOCATION 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. The Battle of Tannenberg was fought between Russia and Germany from August 26th to August 30th 1914, during the first month of World War I. Shows Wilhelm II and " Hindenburg the victor of Tannenberg". It brought considerable prestige to General Mikhail Skobelev, a veteran of the Russo-Japanese and Russo-Turkish Wars.Vivat ribbon commemorating Battle of Tannenberg.
The battle is particularly notable for fast rail movements by the Russians, enabling them to concentrate against each of the four German armies in turn, and also for the failure of the Germans to properly encode their radio messages. A series of follow-up battles (Masurian Lakes) destroyed most of the Sixth Army as well and kept the Germans off balance. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the German Eleventh, Eighth, and Fourteenth Armies and the suicide of two of their commanding generals, Erich von Ludendorff (forced suicide by the Russians), and Maximilian Hoffman. The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I.
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