First Battle of the Masurian Lakes

First Battle of the Masurian Lakes
Part of the Eastern Front of World War I

Eastern Front to 26 September 1914.
Date2–16 September 1914
Location
East Prussia, Germany (present-day Russia and Poland)
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Germany Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Paul von Hindenburg
Erich Ludendorff
August von Mackensen		 Paul von Rennenkampf
Units involved
8th Army 1st Army
10th Army
Strength
Total 244,391 men[1]
7 military corps[2]
1,146 guns
400 machine guns		 Total 150,000[a][5] to 210,000[6]
724 guns[7]
4 corps and one division.
Casualties and losses

German official medical reports (1 - 30.09.1914):
1,555 KIA,
10,412 WIA,
1,552 MIA,
Total 13,519[8]
Lost:[9]
17 guns
17 machine guns

10,000[10][11] killed, wounded and missing[12][13][14]
Other Estimate:
40,000 killed and wounded[15]

100,000[16][17]–125,000 killed, wounded and captured,[18][19][20]
Lost:[21]
162 guns
174 machine guns

Russian Estimate:
about 60,000 died, wounded and prisoners[22][23][24]
German data: 100,000 men, including 45,000 prisoners[25]

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.[26]

  1. ^ Sanitaetsbericht ueber das Deutsche Heer (Deutsche Feldund Besatzungsheer) im Weltkriege 1914/1918. Bd. III. B., 1934. Taffel 11; Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918. Bd. 2. p. 358; Bracht R. Unter Hindenburg von Tannenberg bis Warschau. p.35
  2. ^ including troops against the Second Russian Army
  3. ^ Людендорф Э. Мои воспоминания о войне 1914-1918 гг. – М.,Минск,2005.С.65
  4. ^ Oleynikov 2016, p. 36.
  5. ^ Oleynikov 2016, p. 27.
  6. ^ Airapetov 2014, p. 254.
  7. ^ Храмов Ф.А Восточно-Прусская операция 1914 г. Оперативно-стратегический очерк.–М.,1940.С.20
  8. ^ Sanitaetsbericht ueber das Deutsche Heer, bd. II, Berlin 1938, p. 495, 508
  9. ^ С.Г. Нелипович, Два похода, 2020, p. 98
  10. ^ David Eggenberger, An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles, 2012, p. 270
  11. ^ Dennis Cove,Ian Westwell, History of World War I, 2002, p. 157
  12. ^ Spencer C. Tucker. World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO. 2014. P. 1048
  13. ^ Timothy C. Dowling. Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond. ABC-CLIO. 2014. P. 509
  14. ^ Prit Buttar. Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914. Osprey Publishing. 2014. P. 239
  15. ^ "First World War.com - Battles - The First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, 1914". www.firstworldwar.com.
  16. ^ Tucker 2002, p. 44.
  17. ^ Gray, Randall; Argyle, Christopher (1990–1991). Chronicle of the First World War. New York: Oxford. p. vol. I, 282.
  18. ^ David Eggenberger, (2012), p. 270
  19. ^ Christine Hatt, The First World War, 1914-18, 2007, p. 15
  20. ^ Roger Chickering, Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918, 2004, p. 26
  21. ^ С.Г. Нелипович, Два похода, 2020, p. 97.
  22. ^ "Крах австро-германского "блицкрига". Восточно-Прусская операция 1914 г. Ч. 6. Потери сторон". btgv.ru.
  23. ^ Alfred Knox Major General with the Russian Army 1914-1917 (1921) p.90
  24. ^ Nelipovich 2017, p. 20.
  25. ^ Golovin 2014, p. 184.
  26. ^ С.Г. Нелипович, Два похода, 2020, p. 107-208


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