Battle of Tannenberg Strategic Map
The battle of Tannenberg was a battle between German and Russian forces. The battle was fought between August 26th and August 30th 1914. This battle destroyed most of the Russian 2nd Army and caused the death of General Alexander Samsonov who committed suicide. Before this battle the Russians transmitted their orders over radio encrypted allowing the Germans to intercept this messages and discover the Russian's plan allowing them to adjust accordingly and prepare a defense the Germans also had fast rail movements allowing for transportation of troops, and supplies. Samsonov's forces met German forces along all fronts. They successfully pushed the Germans into retreating although this was part of the German's plan. As the Russians continued marching forward against the retreating Germans, On August 26th Ludendorff strategically placed troops on the Russians right flank which was left undefended since they thought they were unopposed. The flanking maneuver had tremendous success and caused heavy Russian forces as the Russians also met solid resistance to their front. Then on August 27th Francois had the troops he had positioned on the Russian's extreme left flank attack. The Russians were caught between a solid frontal defense and two extremely devastating attacks on their undefended flanks. This was a major German victory with the Germans losing only 12,000-15,000 killed or wounded soldiers and the Russians sustained 78,000 killed or wounded and 92,000 captured along with 350 of their artillery guns seized.