Battle of Tannenberg: Germany vs. Russia in WWI

During the opening weeks of World War One, Germany had amassed most of her forces along the Western Front—in accordance with Germany’s Schlieffen Plan to attack France—while Germany’s Eighth Army was tasked with defending the Eastern Front from an anticipated Russian invasion into Prussia.

Russian Flanking Attempt

In the middle of August, 1914, much sooner than the German’s anticipated, the Russian 1st Army led by Paul von Rennenkampf advanced into the northeastern corner of Prussia, while the Russian 2nd Army commanded by Alexander Samsonov advanced into southwestern Prussia, with plans to meet up for a combined flanking maneuver against the German eighth.

Instead, Eighth Army replacement commanders Paul von Hindenburg and his second in command, Erich Ludendorff set out to “annihilate” the Russian’s 2nd Army, which had advanced well in front of its communications and supply lines. Fought some 19 miles from the village of Tannenberg—a place where the Poles had defeated the Teutonic Knights some 500 years earlier—from August 26th to the 30th, German artillery pounded the Russian 2nd Army, mainly due to the Russian’s lack of ciphered communications between their 1st and 2nd armies.

Russian Retreat

After three days of punishing assaults in sweltering summer heat, Samsonov gave the order for an all-out retreat from Prussia, running headlong into flanking German forces in the early hours of August 30th.

The morning would prove to be a wholesale slaughter of trapped Russian forces, as they attempted to flee across open fields without sufficient ammunition. Realizing his army was in total collapse, Samsonov walked away from his field staff into a nearby forest, ending his life with a lone bullet to his head.

German Victory at Tannenberg

The Battle of Tannenberg would prove to be the biggest victory for Germany during the First World War, resulting in the near destruction of Russia’s 1st and 2nd armies. Casualties for the Germans stood at 14,000, while Russian casualties reached an estimated 122 to 170,000, including 50,000 killed in action and 92,000 made prisoners of war, making the Battle of Tannenberg, a bloody opening salvo in a war that would ultimately take the lives of 20 million people before its end.