CHAPTER LXXV
BATTLE OF TANNENBERG AND RUSSIAN RETREAT
When on August 22, 1914, the full strength of the Russian attack became evident, the German General Staff decided on heroic measures. An immediate increase of the German forces to the point where they would match the Russian seemed out of the question, and the solution of the problem, therefore, clearly lay in the ability of the general staff to find a general who could, with the forces on hand, meet the requirements of the situation—free East Prussia of the invader.
Fortunately for Germany, its hour of need on the eastern front brought forth this man. There had been living for a number of years in the west German city of Hanover a general who had been retired in 1911 as commander of an army corps. His name was Paul von Hindenburg. He was at that time in his sixty-seventh year, but having been an army officer since his youth, he was "hard as nails," and from a military point of view still in the prime of his years as a leader.
It was well known in military circles that Von Hindenburg had acquired the most thorough knowledge of the difficult lake district south of Königsberg. He had devoted his time and energies for years to a most exhaustive study and investigation of the Mazurian lakes and swamps. Again and again he had tramped through them on foot, picked his way along their treacherous paths on horseback, and finally put their few roads to the supreme test of the motor car. He knew their every shortcoming and advantage. His topographical information included fording places for men and guns, and quicksands.
Much of this knowledge he passed on to younger officers to whom he lectured at the General Staff College in Berlin, and when, only some years ago, practically all arrangements had been concluded by powerful financial interests to drain and cultivate his beloved lakes and swamps for agricultural purposes, he succeeded in overthrowing these plans at the last moment. It is said that so powerful were these interests that Von Hindenburg succeeded only by going, at last, to the emperor himself, and convincing him that the natural defensive possibilities outweighed in value any amount of increased acreage of reclaimed land.
We have already shown the problem which faced Von Hindenburg. To drive the Russians out of East Prussia he had to defeat two armies composed of at least 500,000 men, whose offensive momentum had been raised to a very high power by a highly successful advance of more than a week's duration. He, himself, could count only on far inferior numbers, not more than the equivalent of four army corps. These he had to assemble without loss of time and with as much artillery equipment as could be spared from all directions. From Königsberg came the biggest part of the beaten First Corps and its reserves. What was left of the Twentieth Corps, of course, was right on the ground. Undoubtedly the fortresses of Danzig, Graudenz, Thorn, and Posen had to yield parts of their garrisons. However, most of these were troops of the second line.
On August 23, 1914, Von Hindenburg arrived at Marienburg, about seventy miles southwest from Königsberg and almost as far to the northwest from Allenstein, and assumed command of the East Prussian forces. Only three days later, on August 26, 1914, he was ready to put in execution the plans on which he had worked for almost a lifetime.
