#Tannenberg fusiliers series#

Their Russian allies in the East would have a massive army, more than 95 divisions, but their mobilization would inevitably be slower. If the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) joined in accordance with their Allied treaty, they would fill the left flank.

The French army's Plan XVII at the outbreak of the war involved swift mobilization followed by an immediate attack to drive the Germans from Alsace and Lorraine. The Eighth Army in East Prussia would go to war with barely 10 per cent of this total.' The total strength of the fully mobilised German Army in 1914 amounted to 1,191 battalions, the great majority of which would be deployed against France. In the east, limited German forces would defend against any Russian attack until more forces became available from the west, fresh from victory over the French. According to Prit Buttar, 'In combination with his own strong desire to fight an offensive war featuring outflanking and encircling movements, Schlieffen went on to develop his plan for a sweeping advance through Belgium. Germany entered World War I largely following the Schlieffen Plan.

3.2 Early phases of battle: 23вЂ“26 August.

3.1 Consolidation of the German Eighth Army.

Although the battle actually took place near Allenstein ( Olsztyn), Hindenburg named it after Tannenberg, 30В km (19В mi) to the west, in order to avenge the Teutonic Knights' defeat at the First Battle of Tannenberg 500 years earlier. The almost miraculous outcome brought considerable prestige to Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and his rising staff-officer Erich Ludendorff. It is also notable for the failure of the Russians to encode their radio messages, broadcasting their daily marching orders in the clear, which allowed the Germans to make their movements with the confidence they would not be flanked. The battle is particularly notable for fast rail movements by the German Eighth Army, enabling them to concentrate against each of the two Russian armies in turn, first delaying the First Army and then destroying the Second before once again turning on the First days later.

#Tannenberg fusiliers series#

A series of follow-up battles ( First Masurian Lakes) destroyed most 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 and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov.

The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The German X (Reserve) Corps continued its advance towards Wassigny and Г‰treux on 27 August, where its constituent 19th (Reserve) Division reported that it had 'scattered a British battalion'.Vivat ribbon commemorating the Battle of Tannenberg, showing Wilhelm II and ' Hindenburg the victor of Tannenberg' The 2nd Munsters were outnumbered at odds of over 6:1 and when finally defeated, the survivors were congratulated on their bravery by the German soldiers they had fought. In their action at Г€treux only four officers and 240 other ranks of the 2nd Munsters survived but the battalion delayed German pursuit of the British I Corps, gaining time for the British Expeditionary Force to escape. Having exhausted their ammunition they surrendered. As night fell on the evening of the 27 August, they found themselves surrounded by the Germans. Under continual pressure from German attacks the Munsters fell back to an orchard near the village of Г‰treux. Less than a battalion strength, just 3 companies of the 2nd Battalion of 'The Munsters' supported by a couple of field guns halted the advance of the German Army for fourteen hours in the area of Oisny and Г‰treux during the retreat from Mons on 27 August. The 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers had been ordered to hold its ground at all costs, in their first action in France. After encountering 'especially obstinate' resistance at Marbaix and Le Grand-Fayt, the German Imperial Army's X (Reserve) Corps had been ordered to continue its advance to the south-west. The 1st and 2nd Armies were sent to the south-west to gain the left flank of the Allied line. The German 2nd Army commander General Karl von BГјlow had ordered a rapid pursuit after the battles of 21вЂ“24 August against the French Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).