First Battle of the Masurian Lakes: Difference between revisions

World War I battle in 1914

First Battle of the Masurian Lakes
Part of the Eastern Front of World War I
Eastern Front to 26 September 1914.
Belligerents
Germany	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff August von Mackensen	Paul von Rennenkampf Vasily Flug
Units involved
8th Army	1st Army 10th Army
Strength
Total 244,391 men[1][2] 1,212 guns 400 machine guns	Total 553,937 men[3][4] 1,673 guns 960 machine guns: First army: 306,470 men, 924 guns 395 machine guns Tenth army: 247,467 men 749 guns 565 machine guns
Casualties and losses
German official medical reports (1 – 30.09.1914): 1,555 KIA, 10,412 WIA, 1,552 MIA, Total 13,519[5] Lost:[6] 17 guns 17 machine guns 10,000[7][8] killed, wounded and missing[9][10][11] Other Estimate: 40,000 killed and wounded[12]	100,000[13][14]–125,000 killed, wounded and captured,[15][16][17] Lost:[18] 162 guns 174 machine guns 70,000 killed and wounded,[9] 30,000[19]–45,000 prisoners Russian Estimate: about 60,000 died, wounded and prisoners[20][21] Staff of the Russian NW front: 100,000 men, including 50,000 prisoners[22]

The First Battle of the Masurian Lakes was a German offensive in the Eastern Front 2–16 September 1914, during the Russian invasion of East Prussia. It took place only days after the Battle of Tannenberg where the German Eighth Army encircled and destroyed the Russian Second Army. Using the rapid movements aided by the East Prussian railway network, the Eighth Army reformed in front of the spread-out Russian First Army and pushed them back across their entire front, eventually ejecting it from Germany. Further progress was hampered by the arrival of the Russian Tenth Army on the Germans’ right flank.

By the conclusion of the battle, the Imperial German Army had destroyed the Second Army and shattered the First in a series of actions over only a few weeks. However, Russia had the largest army in the world, so the Russian army very quickly restored its losses in manpower, and after a couple of weeks the Russians launched a new offensive in East Prussia.^[23]

Background[edit]

The Russian offensive in East Prussia had started well enough, with General Paul von Rennenkampf‘s First Army (Army of the Neman) forcing the Eighth Army westward from the border towards Königsberg. Meanwhile, the Russian Second Army invaded from the south, hoping to cut the Germans off in the area around the city. The lack of railways and logistical problems meant they made slow progress even though they faced only a single German army corps.

During their advance Yakov Zhilinsky, Chief of Staff of the Imperial Russian Army, made a strategic mistake by separating two large Russian armies and urging them to move rapidly over a marginally trafficable terrain in response to the requests of the French for an early offensive. As a result, the armies approached in a poorly coordinated manner, being isolated from each other by terrain obstacles, and before the logistical base could be established, the troops were worn down by a rapid march and had to face fresh German troops.^[24]

The Germans developed a plan to rapidly move their forces to surround the Second Army as it moved northward over some particularly hilly terrain. The danger was that the First Army would turn to their aid, thereby flanking the German forces. However, the Russians broadcast their daily marching orders “in the clear” on the radio, and the Germans learned that the First Army was continuing to move away from the Second. Using railways in the area, the German forces maneuvered and eventually surrounded and destroyed the Second Army at the Battle of Tannenberg between 26 and 30 August 1914.

According to Prit Buttar, “as the magnitude of the disaster that had befallen Samsonov‘s army became clear, Rennenkampf ordered his men to pull back from their most advanced positions. First Army took up a line running from the Deime valley in the north, through Wehlau and Nordenberg, to the northern shore of the Mauer-See, immediately to the west of Angerburg.” His reserve divisions formed the new XXVI Corps on his northern flank. Between Wehlau and Nordenburg were his III and IV Corps. The II Corps was placed opposite the German garrison in Lötzen. In addition, Rennenkampf received 5 newly formed reserve divisions (54th, 57th, 68th, 72nd, 76th).^[25] The total strength of the First Army was more than 300,000 men, including 50,000 in reserve (garrisons of fortresses in the rear of the First Army).^[25] The Tenth Army filled the gap with what was left of the Second Army. The Tenth Army was newly formed, and consisted of the XXII Corps from Finland, the III Siberian Corps, the I Turkestan Corps, and the II Caucasian Corps, with the XXII Corps opposite Lyck, and the III Siberian Corps to their south. Two corps were kept in reserve.^[26] The total strength of the Tenth Army was 250,000 men. In the reserve of the Tenth Army there were garrisons of fortresses with more than 37,000 men.^[27]

On 31…