The German Eighth Army was in place southwest of Königsberg, while the two available Russian armies were located to the east (the First Army) and south (the Second Army) the latter in what was known as the "Polish Salient". Just prior to the opening of the war, the situation developed largely as prewar planning had expected.
WHERE WAS THE BATTLE OF TANNENBERG FOUGHT SERIES
In order to delay the Russian forces as long as possible, the entire area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), near the Russian border, was heavily fortified with a long series of fieldworks.
There was little allowance for anything other than a delaying action while the outcome in the west was decided. This allowed the Germans to garrison Prussia fairly lightly with a single army, the Eighth, while the German Ninth Army was stationed in central Germany to reinforce either front. The entire Schlieffen Plan was based on the idea of defeating France as quickly as possible, and then transporting their armies by train to the eastern front. The Germans likewise considered the Russians to be their primary threat.
Nevertheless, the Russians considered the Germans to be their primary threat, and planned to use limited forces to quickly seize East Prussia. The presence of the armies of Austria-Hungary to the south as well as initially those of Japan to the east limited Russia's involvement in the beginning (however, Japan declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914). Additionally, Russian trains operated on a different rail gauge to Germany, meaning that unless the Russians acquired German railroad engines and cars, their armies could only be transported by rail as far as the German border. At Tannenberg the actual ratio of Russian to German troops was 29 to 16.įrustrating this plan was the Russians' lack of a good quality railroad network. The numbers were overwhelming in perhaps as little as a month, the Russians could field around ten complete armies, more men than the Germans could muster on both fronts put together. The Allied battle plan prior to the war had been based on France and the United Kingdom halting the German armies in the West while the huge Russian armies could be organized and brought to the Eastern front.
As pointed out by the Australian historian Christopher Clark, the actual Tannenberg is some 30 km (19 mi) to the west, and there was no intrinsic reason-other than the historical battle and its emotive resonance in the narrative of German and Slavic nationalism-to give its name to the 1914 battle. The battle is notable particularly for a number of rapid movements of complete German corps by train, allowing a single German army to concentrate its forces against each Russian army in turn.Īlthough the battle actually took place close to Allenstein (Olsztyn), General Erich Ludendorff's aide, Colonel Max Hoffmann, suggested naming it after Tannenberg, in the interest of Pan-German ideology, to counter the defeat of the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410 by the Poles, Lithuanians and Tatars.
A series of follow-up battles destroyed the majority 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. It was fought by the Russian Second Army against the German Eighth Army between 26 August and 30 August 1914. The Battle of Tannenberg was an engagement between the Russian and the German Empires in the first days of World War I. Shows Wilhelm II and " Hindenburg the winner of Tannenberg". Vivat ribbon commemorating Battle of Tannenberg.
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