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Despite the Russians' early success, the crippling problems of communication and supply continued to worry their high command. In particular, communications between Samsonov and General Yakov Zhilinskiy, who had overall responsibility for the front, were patchy and delayed, and out of concern this would cause Samsonov to hesitate, Zhilinskiy repeatedly sent messages (intercepted by German radio) urging haste on the part of Second Army. Samsonov was in fact marching north into East Prussia with all possible speed, having crossed the border on the 19th and pushing back the heavily outnumbered XX Corps over the next few days. However, his troops had by now outrun their supply lines and were growing exhausted in the summer heat, and there was a gap of over sixty miles between them and Rennenkampf's First Army.
Despite the Russians' early success, the crippling problems of communication and supply continued to worry their high command. In particular, communications between Samsonov and General Yakov Zhilinskiy, who had overall responsibility for the front, were patchy and delayed, and out of concern this would cause Samsonov to hesitate, Zhilinskiy repeatedly sent messages (intercepted by German radio) urging haste on the part of Second Army. Samsonov was in fact marching north into East Prussia with all possible speed, having crossed the border on the 19th and pushing back the heavily outnumbered XX Corps over the next few days. However, his troops had by now outrun their supply lines and were growing exhausted in the summer heat, and there was a gap of over sixty miles between them and Rennenkampf's First Army.
Already on August 21, the Eighth Army deputy chief of operations, Colonel Max Hoffmann, had issued orders for most of the other units to shift southward and support XX Corps, gambling that Rennenkampf would remain inactive. Upon receiving his new assignment, Ludendorff, with Hindenburg's approval, confirmed these orders, reasoning that with Samsonov still advancing, and the two armies geographically separated, the only real option was to mass all possible force against them one at a time, with the prospect of defeating them in detail.
Already on August 21, the Eighth Army deputy chief of operations, Colonel Max Hoffmann, had issued orders for most of the other units to shift southward and support XX Corps, gambling that Rennenkampf would remain inactive. Upon receiving his new assignment, Ludendorff, with Hindenburg's approval, confirmed these orders, reasoning that with Samsonov still advancing, and the two armies geographically separated, the only real option was to mass all possible force against them one at a time, with the prospect of defeating them in detail.
By August 23, the XX Corps had formed a defensive line between the villages of Orlau and Frankenau, which was assaulted the following morning by Samsonov's XV Corps under General Nikolai Martos. After heavy losses on both sides, the German commander, Lieutenant General Friedrich von Scholtz, pulled back another ten miles, forming a new line based around the village of Tannenberg. Owing to the poor communications, Samsonov believed that Rennenkampf was still keeping the bulk of the Eighth Army occupied further northeast, and therefore ordered a continued advance by all four of his corps the following day--this message too was intercepted and reported to the German commanders. In fact, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who had come to Tannenberg that same day to confer with Scholtz, regarded it as a confirmation of their initial decision and summoned Mackensen's and Below's corps to march south at once to reinforce the XX Corps. Simultaneously, François' I Corps, which had been moving from Gumbinnen to the Tannenberg sector via train the past several days, was ordered to attack the Russian left flank at Usdau the next morning, the 25th; though François protested--in vain--that as his ammunition had not yet arrived, his troops would have to rely on the bayonet. Mackensen, supported by Below, would meanwhile assail the Russian right, while Scholtz engaged their center.
==References==
==References==