Battle of Gumbinnen

Battle of Gumbinnen

Part of: First World War , Eastern Front

The Battle of Gumbinnen and the Retreat

date	August 19th bis 20th August 1914
place	Gumbinnen , East Prussia
output	German withdrawal

Parties to the conflict
German Empire	Russia
Commander
Max von Prittwitz	Paul von Rennenkampff
Troop strength
6.5 infantry and 1 cavalry division	6 infantry divisions
losses
approx. 15,000	approx. 16,500

The Battle of Gumbinnen took place during World War I from August 19-20, 1914 and was the first attack by Russian troops on Germany. The result was the brief occupation of two thirds of East Prussia , which only ended with the Battle of Tannenberg (August 26–30, 1914) and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes (September 6–14, 1914). East Prussia was - next to Upper Alsace , Lorraine and the colonies - one of the few areas of the German Empire that was affected by direct combat operations.

Starting position

Maximilian von Prittwitz and Gaffron, Colonel General and Commander in Chief of the 8th Army

According to the Schlieffen Plan , when the war broke out, the German Reich concentrated the bulk of its land forces in the west in order to forestall Russian intervention with a quick victory over France and thus avoid a two-front war . Only the 8th Army under Colonel General Maximilian von Prittwitz and Gaffron was deployed in the east of the empire.

Tsar Nicholas II ordered Russian mobilization on July 30, 1914 . Although this was not yet completed in mid-August (the German military leadership had expected it to take six to eight weeks), France and Great Britain urged rapid intervention to relieve the front in the west and to bring the German Reich into trouble. For this purpose, the 1st Russian Army (Nyemen Army) under Paul von Rennenkampff and the 2nd Russian Army (Narew Army) under Samsonow were put on the march.

Involved armed forces

Russian armed forces

XX. Corps (General Vladimir Vasilyevich Smirnov )

• 28th Infantry Division (Nikolai Alexejewitsch Lashkewitsch)
• 29th Infantry Division (Anatoly Nikolajewitsch Rosenschild von Paulin)

III. Corps ( Nikolai Alexejewitsch Jepantschin )

• 25th Infantry Division (Pavel Ilyich Bulgakov)
• 27th Infantry Division (Michail Michailowitsch Adaridow)

IV Corps (General Sultan Eris Giray Aliyev)

• 30th Infantry Division (Eduard Arkadjewitsch Koljankowski)
• 40 Infantry Division (Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Korotkjewitsch)

I. Nakhitvansky Cavalry Corps (not in combat)

• 1st Guard Cavalry Division (Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Kasnakow)
• 2nd Guard Cavalry Division ( Georgi Ottowitsch Rauch )
• 2nd Cavalry Division (Hussein Khan Nachitschwanski)

Opposing troop strengths

Vladimir Letjagin gives the following troop strengths for August 7, 1914 according to the Julian date = August 20 in the Gregorian calendar :

Attendees	infantry	cavalry	artillery	Machine guns
Russians	63,800	9,152	380 (excluding heavy artillery)	252
German	74,400	9,780	408 (including 44 heavy artillery pieces)	224

course

Battle of Gumbinnen 1914

Russian attack

In the middle of August the attack of the Russian troops began with the aim to encompass and destroy the German 8th Army. The 1st Russian Army entered East Prussia on August 17, 1914, over a width of 40 km between Wishtynjez and Schirwindt (north of the Rominter Heath ). On the same day there was a battle near Stallupönen with the I. Army Corps under General Hermann von François . Maximilian von Prittwitz formed his army north of the Masurian Lakes along the Angerapp . Here he wanted to call the Russian units and then embrace them on both sides. Only the XX. Army corps under General Friedrich von Scholtz was supposed to secure the southern border of East Prussia.

On August 19, the Russians attacked from the area south and east of Goldap in several places in the direction of Darkehmen , but were repulsed. Russian cavalry advanced against Kraupischken and Schillehnen at the same time . The Russian XX. Army Corps encountered German troops with the 29th Division west of Kattenau .

German counterattack

On August 20, the German 8th Army counterattacked. The northern flank covered the 1st Cavalry Division under Lieutenant General Brecht. On the north wing, the attack by the 1st Army Corps under General von François was successful. The 2nd Division (Lieutenant General von Falk ) intervened on the right of the 1st Division (Lieutenant General von Conta ), which was already engaged in the artillery battle, and took Mallwischken at the first attempt . The right wing of the Russian 1st Army (XX Corps and parts of III) was pushed back. A surprisingly scheduled counterattack by the Russian 29th Division pushed the German troops back at Niebudszen , and the left wing of the German 2nd Division was also stopped at Radszen. A supporting intervention by the nearby cavalry corps under General Nakhichevansky did not take place for unexplained reasons. The main reserve of the Königsberg Fortress (Lieutenant General Brodrück) was located south of the 1st Division in positions from Rominte west of Augstupönen to Springen.

In the middle section, the German XVII. Army Corps under August von Mackensen, however, after initial success, thrown back to the starting position between Walterkehmen -Perkallen. The 35th Division (General von Henning) had to go to the northeast of Walterkehmen and the 36th Division (General von Heineccius ) gathered again at Perkallen behind the Rominte. The Mackensen Corps suffered heavy losses; It lost 8,000 infantry men alone, and a further 1,000 became prisoners of war .

In the southern section near Kleszowen with the I. Reserve Corps (General von Below ) and the 3rd Reserve Division standing near Benkheim , there were only minor skirmishes with troops of the Russian IV Corps. Both sides formed up for the next day.

Withdrawal of the German troops

François' command post

When reports arrived that the Russian 2nd Army (Samsonow) had crossed the southern border west of the Masurian Lakes, Prittwitz had the battle broken off and ordered a retreat behind the Vistula .

He found himself in a precarious position because the Supreme Army Command - under Colonel General Moltke - had orders not to risk the loss of his army, to give up East Prussia if necessary and to go back behind the Vistula . Therefore he avoided the danger of being gripped or attacked in his back by Samsonov.

On the army staff, however, Major General Paul Grünert as Quartermaster General and Lieutenant Colonel Max Hoffmann as First General Staff Officer were of the opinion that the next day there was definitely a chance of success. If Prittwitz withdrew, he would miss the chance to defeat the Russian 1st Army and then attack the advancing 2nd Army. This would not be ready to fight immediately from the march movement. Colonel-General von Prittwitz and his Chief of Staff , Major General Georg von Waldersee , stuck to their decision.

The battle of Gumbinnen ended in a draw; but the Russians did not withdraw. The army's stage inspection gave the careless and disastrous order to move all crops and cattle behind the Vistula. The result was an "endless stream of refugees with wagons and herds of cattle in dust and heat, a procession of hundreds of thousands such as Europe had hardly seen for centuries."

Replacement of General Prittwitz

In GHQ they were also of the view that this withdrawal was ordered rushed. In a phone call with Moltke, Prittwitz doubted that he could even keep the Vistula line. He gradually got the impression that Prittwitz was no longer up to the situation, and recommended that the Kaiser replace the army command.

The emperor followed this recommendation. On August 22, 1914, Prittwitz and Waldersee were released from their duties. The new army chief was General of the Infantry Paul von Hindenburg ; Major General Erich Ludendorff was assigned to him as Chief of Staff . Hindenburg had already been retired for three years at this point and was reactivated. According to the mobilization plan, Ludendorff was Quartermaster General of the 2nd Army on the Western Front .

The battle of Tannenberg developed out of this withdrawal movement with the new army command .

literature

• Fritz Gause : The Russians in East Prussia 1914/15. On behalf of the governor of the province of East Prussia . Koenigsberg 1931
• Reichsarchivwerk: The World War from 1914 to 1918 , Vol. 2: The liberation of East Prussia . Berlin, 1925
• Walther Grosse : The Battle of Gumbinnen. The fighting in East Prussia from August 17th to 20th, 1914 . Tilsit 1939

Web links

Commons : Battle of Gumbinnen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Battle of Gumbinnen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Николай Шефов: Битвы России. Военно-историческая библиотека. М., 2002.
2. ↑ Владимир Летягин: Первая мировая <sic!> В Восточной Пруссии . In: Историческое приложение к журналу "Вдохновение" № 10 МБУ ЦБС города Черняховска , p. 25.
3. ↑ The World War from 1914 to 1918. Vol. 2. Berlin 1925, pp. 83 and 84.
4. ↑ The World War from 1914 to 1918. Vol. 2. Berlin 1925, p. 93.
5. ^ Fried von Batocki, Klaus von der Groeben : Adolf von Batocki. In action for East Prussia and the Reich. A picture of life . Ostsee-Verlag, Raisdorf 1998, pp. 46-48. ISBN 3-9802210-9-1 .