Tsardom of Russia: Battle of Tannenburg
Tannenburg: 1914
Background: The major plan for the allies in World War was to squeeze Germany and her allies on both the eastern and western fronts. Russia at first did not have high participation in the war until major pushes in Prussia and Austria-Hungary in the mid 1914's. Russia saw Prussia as a major stepping stone to take out Germany because of the railroad network that started at Tannenburg and continued throughout everywhere in Europe beside Russia. If Russia was able to take Tannenburg they would be able to move there armies throughout Europe by train and have a faster offensive system. The Germans however were not worried seeing Russia as a secondary threat decided to put their major resources in the west, so Germany had only had there Eighth army to defend the Tannenburg railway system.
Purpose for the battle: The purpose of the battle was that whoever could control the area of Tannenburg had access to almost all of Europe. If Russia could capture this railway station they would be able to transport their troops across Europe and quickly out maneuver their enemy. For the Germans this was a must win situation for at the time they only had the Eighth army defending Tannenburg and they needed Tannenburg as a forward operating base to attack Russia.
The Battle: The battle began with the Germans attacking the Russian fortified positions, with the Russians pushing back wave after wave of German attackers. The Russians then gained confiddence and decided to charge at the Germans. The confident Russians attacked the Germans full force causing the German XX Corp to retreat and fire, causing many casualties on both sides. As the Russians continued there push on the XX Corp the Russian Generals Smasonov and Rennenkampf disagreed on the plans on how to continue the attack. So Rennenkampf out of political anger abandoned Smasonov and decided to move his group of troops due west. The Germans intercepted the messages and plans were put into action. During the main part of the battle the Germans began to out maneuver the Russians causing the Russian Second army right flank to be very weak. The Germans seeing this decided to bombard both flanks of the Russian forces causing the Russian flanks to retreat. Samsnov continued to push on to Tannenburg not noticing his lack of supply lines and missing corps on the flank. Samsonov was then forced to retreat but it was to late the Russians were surrounded and destroyed. Only 10,000 of the 150,000 Russian soldiers managed to escape the encirclement, Samsonov was not able to bear the lose of so many Russians's and instead of reporting it to Tsar Nicholas II committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Russian Soldiers throwing down their weapons to the German army
The battlefield of Tannenburg
Aftermath: After the battle of Tannenburg was over, over 78,000 Russians were killed and only 15,000 Germans killed. This battle was one of the most bloody battles on the Eastern Front during World War 1. Overall with this major defeat put onto the Russians by the Germans, this allowed the opportunity for more communist support and support to overthrow the Tsar in coming years in 1917. For the Germans this victory allowed them to focus more on the Western front and continue there attacks on the French.
Commanders: Aleksandr Vassikievich Samsonov- Russia
Paul von Hindenburg-German
Erich Ludendorff-German
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-tannenberg-begins
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwari/p/World-War-I-Battle-Of-Tannenberg.htm
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/tannenberg.htm
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