| August 25 |  |
Editor says, what if Rennenkampf's army was able to rescue Samsonov in Tannenberg? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the March 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1914, on this day the German Deputy Chief of Operations, Colonel Max Hoffmann received a new radio intercept of von Rennenkampf's most recent order for the Russian First Army to relieve General Samsonov's beleagured Second Army at Tannenberg.
Marching through East PrussiaThat the Russian Commanders would BOTH send messages in clear text was so unbelievable that his incredulous bosses refused to accept it as a statement of fact. Instead Ludendorff and Hindenburg compounded this error by rejecting Hoffman's plans, and then insisting that German I Corps under Hermann von François press ahead with the attack even before his artillery supplies arrived.
Of course von Rennenkampf and Samsonov had hated each other even before their notorious punch up on the platform of Mukden Station in 1905. But to Hoffman's private exasperation it was Ludendorff and Hindenburg who quarreled over tactics having only just met on the train en route. Ironically, Hindenburg's reactivation from retirement was a desperate measure forced upon the High Command by the panicking aristocracy of East Prussia. And worse, Hoffman's defensive plans were perfectly sound and the interference of the two Generals was not only wholly unnecessary but in fact totally counter-productive.
Fortunately for the Central Powers, the German Army Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke had exercised caution by taking three corps and a cavalry division from the Western front and redeploying them to East Prussia. This order was issued over the head of Ludendorff who had protested that the relief forces would arrive too late to have any effect, while at the same time weakening the German offensive through Belgium against France. Although he was right to argue that this massive redeployment threatened to undo the Schlieffen Plan, the early arrival of these Corps was now key to saving the Eastern Front from collapse.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Tannenberg, Samsonov, Rennenkampf, Ludendorff, Hindenburg. Editor says, in reality Ludendorff and Hindenburg were skeptical that these intercepts were real. Nevertheless they were eventually convinced they were indeed real, and the plans were put into action.
~ The units were not taken from the wheel but rather from units that had been besieging now fallen Franco-Belgian fortresses. As the two key wheel armies [1st and 2nd] were in fact out of supply at the repulse on the Marne sending these troops forward would have simply choked the inadequate road net further. So what the move ruined was not the Schliffen Plan but rather the subsequent race to the sea.
~ A delay, certainly, but Germany still had great long-term strength against antiquated Russian forces. If the Russians over-extended themselves, it could easily all be undone, provided the Germans can hold the West. Two fronts, blech.
Please click hyperlink for Yahoo! Groups Discussion comments.
~ Unless something went wrong with the defeat bof Rennenkampf and then with the battle of Tannenberg R will not get there in time to help s. The remainsof R''s army may receive a further defeat as he advances.
~ The Russians may do better, but in the long run, their shambolic system will defeat them as badly as they were in OTL. That said, I wonder what an Imperial Russian-occupied East Prussia would be like?
~ As thin as the British lines were I am certain that had the forces not been taken from the west the Germans would have been able to split the
English and French aries and won a huge victory. The race to the sea was not the key to victory at all it was the key to static defense that was doomed to plague the war when the Schliffen plan failed.
~ Key to victory that was. Sorry the test is so small when I type this I can't see to check for mistakes till it's posted.
~ Things are going to get NAS-tay.....
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
