Russia Enters the War: The Battle of Tannenberg- Mid August 1914

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Russia Enters the War The Battle of
Tannenberg-Mid August 1914

• Russias weaknesses had convinced Schlieffen and
  his successor Moltke that it would take forty
  days for the Tsars armies to mass on Germanys
  border. The Germans believed they had forty days
  to overwhelm France before they had to turn and
  face the Russians.

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• Besides time, the Germans also believed space was
  on their side. Russias immense spaces separated
  the population centers from which soldiers must
  mobilize. There were also sparse railroad
  connections between the cities and the frontiers.
  
• The Germans believed that what would take them
  days, would take the Russians weeks.

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• In 1914, Russia was committed to Plan A.
  Two-fifths of its army would be concentrated
  around Warsaw, from which its forces could be
  deployed into East Prussia.
• Germany had little left over from the Western
  Front to defend East Prussia with. Only one of
  its eight armies and some reservists were
  available. They were far outnumbered by Russian
  forces.

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• However large their numbers, Russias forces had
  serious problems. They had far greater cavalry
  numbers than any other army. This put a large
  burden for animal feed on the already weak
  transport system.
• It took forty trains to supply four thousand men
  in a cavalry division, when the same number could
  supply sixteen thousand infantry men.
• Russian officers were often poorly educated,
  while their men were generally illiterate
  peasants.

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• Despite their overwhelming numbers, the Russians
  exposed themselves to defeat in detail--that is
  they allowed a weaker force to concentrate
  against on portion of their army and then the
  other, defeating both.
• Geography provided Germany with some definite
  advantages. The Russian army was faced with a
  chain of lakes nearly fifty miles long. The
  easiest option was to split the forces and work
  around the lakes.
• The armies would be separated by three days
  marching time and not able to come to each
  others aid easily.

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• The Germans also had better intelligence
  gathering methods. The Russians knew they
  outnumbered the Germans, but had no way of
  determining the German positions. Even with the
  largest aerial reconnaissance in Europe, the
  Russians failed to detect German movements all
  together.
• German aircraft however, began to detect Russian
  movement a full week before they crossed the
  frontier.

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• By the time the Russian troops arrived in force,
  the Germans were already planning a sneak attack
  under cover of darkness.
• The Russians however, had prepared trenches and
  fortified farm buildings. The harder the Germans
  pressed, the higher their casualties. The Tsars
  artillery were the best trained arm of his army.
  To add to the slaughter, the Germans mistakenly,
  but effectively fired on their own troops.

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• Molke was appalled by the reports he was
  receiving from the front. Only twenty of the
  vital forty days had elapsed. He feared the
  Schlieffen Plan was beginning to crumble. He
  decided to change commanders and sent in
  Ludendorff and Hindenburg.
• The plan was to defeat Russian forces on one side
  of the lake, then use the railway lines to send
  forces behind them and repeat the process.

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• Radio insecurity was to be a key feature of the
  Tannenberg campaign. Both sides were guilty of
  signaling en clair. The Russians had difficulty
  distributing code books, while the Germans
  operators felt pressed for time and sent messages
  hoping they would be missed by listeners.
• On the morning of August 25, Hindenberg had a
  stroke of luck when an entire Russian First Army
  order was received. He used the information to
  surround the Russian army

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• The Germans counted 50,000 Russian dead as well
  as 92,000 prisoners.
• The Germans had saved the Prussian heartland and
  was celebrated as saving Germany from the
  barbarians of Russia.
• Tannenberg also reversed the German way of
  thinking about the war. Initially, the west was
  to be won quickly, while the east was held as
  best as possible, now the east seemed tamed while
  victory continued to be elusive in the west.

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• Tannenberg temporarily devastated the Russians.
  The Russian commander, Samsonov was inconsolable.
  Riding back with his officers, he found an excuse
  for a moment alone and shot himself.
• Beyond stories like this, it is difficult to
  represent the stories of the Russian army on an
  individual level. The army was 80 peasant and
  illiterate. Few personal memoirs remain.