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Prittwitz attacked near the town of Gumbinnen on the morning of August 20, with generally negative results. The I Corps under François enjoyed some success, assaulting the right flank of the Russian XX Corps and driving it from the field after its artillery ammunition ran out. However, the other units--the XVII Corps under Lieutenant General August von Mackensen and the I Reserve Corps under General Otto von Below--had had to hastily advance from the Angerapp and thus were not in a position to do more than launch frontal attacks, which the Russians easily repulsed. Under heavy bombardment, Mackensen's and Below's troops broke and fled the field, and by nightfall Prittwitz had ordered the whole army to pull back. Though Rennenkampf declined to pursue the retreating troops, due to concern about the state of his supply lines, reports had by now arrived of Samsonov's offensive from the south; in response, Prittwitz gave orders for Eighth Army to retreat all the way to the Vistula, which would mean abandoning most of East Prussia. That same night, he telephoned Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, overall commander of the German armies, to explain his intentions.
Prittwitz attacked near the town of Gumbinnen on the morning of August 20, with generally negative results. The I Corps under François enjoyed some success, assaulting the right flank of the Russian XX Corps and driving it from the field after its artillery ammunition ran out. However, the other units--the XVII Corps under Lieutenant General August von Mackensen and the I Reserve Corps under General Otto von Below--had had to hastily advance from the Angerapp and thus were not in a position to do more than launch frontal attacks, which the Russians easily repulsed. Under heavy bombardment, Mackensen's and Below's troops broke and fled the field, and by nightfall Prittwitz had ordered the whole army to pull back. Though Rennenkampf declined to pursue the retreating troops, due to concern about the state of his supply lines, reports had by now arrived of Samsonov's offensive from the south; in response, Prittwitz gave orders for Eighth Army to retreat all the way to the Vistula, which would mean abandoning most of East Prussia. That same night, he telephoned Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, overall commander of the German armies, to explain his intentions.
The planned retreat of the Eighth Army produced consternation at Moltke's headquarters, which had been under the impression that it was holding its own against the invasion. However, Prittwitz's orders were altered again the following day, August 21, when his staff convinced him a southward shift was necessary to block Samsonov's advance before the withdrawal to the Vistula could begin. Most units were accordingly reoriented away from the front of the First Army (which remained quiet), but Prittwitz rejected proposals that he counterattack Samsonov in turn, and in follow-up conversations with headquarters (Oberste Heeresleitung, or OHL), made clear his determination to take up a defensive stance behind the Vistula, and suggested reinforcements from the Western Front would be necessary even to hold that line.
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:World War I]]