Tannenberg

* Dates:  23 - 31 Aug 1914 

* The Germans: As German reinforcements were being transferred east, General Hindenburg was called out of retirement in order to replace the hapless Prittwitz. It was also at this time when he formed a portentous partnership with his new chief of staff, the hero of Liege: Generalmajor Erich Ludendorff.  Hindenburg's corps commanders in the Eighth Army included:  Francois (I), Mackensen (XVII), Scholtz (XX),  and Below (I.Reserves). The real genius behind Tannenberg, however, is often considered to be Lt. Colonel Max Hoffmann, the Eighth Army's Deputy Chief of Staff who was responsible for most of its war planning.  (Order of Battle at bottom of page)

* The Battle: On 23 August, Ludendorff ordered three corps (I, I.Res, and XVII) to rapidly transfer from the Gumbinnen area to Tannenberg where they met up with XX Corps, leaving only a cavalry division to screen and hold off Rennenkamp. The Eighth then quickly outflanked and annihilated Samsonov's army.  Over 125,000 Russian soldiers were captured, killed or wounded, while Samsonov disappeared into the forest to commit suicide. The Eighth Army then rapidly shifted to the north in order to encircle Rennenkampf. A powerful German attack on the Russians near the Masurian Lakes left Rennenkampf's forces shattered and on the retreat.

This German victory was initially referred to as the Battle of Ostroda, but to give the German military and civilian populace a further psychological boost, Ludendorff and Hoffmann suggested using the name of nearby Tannenberg (present-day Stebark, Poland). The reference was to the 1410 battle where Polish-Lithuanian forces routed the Teutonic Knights. The 1914 Tannenberg was the most decisive single tactical battle of the Great War, with German losses totaling slightly more than 10,000. But, the sum result was disastrous for Germany: by transferring troops eastward to defend East Prussia, von Moltke foolishly weakened Germany's momentum on the Western Front as they drove toward Paris (ironically, the transferred troops were still en route to the Eastern Front as the Battle of Tannenberg was being waged). This decision by Moltke thus helped ensure a German defeat on the Marne. It also put OHL leadership in an unnecessary quandry for most of the remainder of the war - whether to concentrate forces on the Western Front (as originally planned) or the Eastern Front, where more immediate results at least seemed to be attainable.

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