“Imagine this Russian army as a bulge pressing into Germany and the Germans strike at a point where the bulge begins and cut off the vast majority of the Russian forces in the middle. “Then the Germans launched two flank attacks,” says Lockenour. General Alexander Samsonov, in charge of the Russian 2nd Army in the South, walked right into Ludendorff’s trap and allowed his men to be completely encircled. The Russian commanders weren’t amateurs, but they were hampered by poor communications, slow supply routes and the frustrations of moving a large army (plus heavy artillery) on foot and horseback through difficult terrain. “He was an incredibly experienced staff officer and had already won the Pour le Mérite cross, similar to the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his leadership at Liege.” “I argue that Ludendorff is the brains of the operation,” says Lockenour, who wrote a book called Dragonslayer: The Legend of Erich Ludendorff in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich. Both sides suffered heavy losses and Prittwitz, envisioning a second Russian army on its way, lost his nerve. When the Germans learned that the Russians were invading East Prussia with two armies, one in the North and another in the South, they ordered Prittwitz to attack the northern Russian 1st Army at what became known as the Battle of Gumbinnen on August 20, 1914. It was a lot of reservists and garrison troops, people normally assigned to defend fixed positions.” “Also, the 8th Army was the weakest of the German armies. “What happened was the Russians mobilized a lot quicker than the Germans expected,” says Jay Lockenour, a military historian at Temple University. The lone German army dispatched to the Russian border region known as East Prussia was the 8th Army led by General Maximilian von Prittwitz. The aftermath of this battle divided the nation.Meanwhile, Germany had committed seven of its eight armies to the West, believing that it would take at least six weeks for the sluggish Russian army to mobilize its forces and attack in the East. On 29th August Samsonov realised the hopelessness of the situation and took his own life. The terrain was tough, his men were hungry and tired, and the Germans were expecting them! On 26th August the Russian army was surrounded and confused. Samsonov’s route to invasion was difficult. Not only was it extremely difficult to contact all the soldiers, as there was so many spread out so far, but also they were not careful enough with their radio communications! The Germans were able to listen in to the radio messages from each General, Rennenkampf stating that he was staying put and Samsonov that he was advancing. One problem these two armies faced was poor communication. Two Russian armies commanded by General Paul von Rennenkampf (Pavel Karlovich Rennenkampf) and General Alexander Samsonov invaded East Prussia, Germany, at the end of August 1914. It was fought in the German village Tannenberg, (now north-eastern Poland) and was a serious defeat for Russia. The Battle of Tannenberg, starting on 26th August 1914, was one of the largest battles on the Eastern Front during the First World War.
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