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 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Germany | Russian Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff August von Mackensen | Paul von Rennenkampf | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| 8th Army |
1st Army 10th Army | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
Total 244,391 men 7 military corps 1,146 guns 400 machine guns |
Total 553,937 men 1,673 guns 960 machine guns: 1st army: 306,470 men, 924 guns 395 machine guns 10th army: 247,467 men 749 guns 565 machine guns | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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German official medical reports (1 - 30.09.1914): 10,000 killed, wounded and missing Other Estimate: 40,000 killed and wounded |
100,000–125,000 killed, wounded and captured, 70,000 killed and wounded, 30,000–45,000 prisoners Russian Estimate: about 60,000 died, wounded and prisoners Staff of the Russian NW front: 100,000 men, including 50,000 prisoners | ||||||||
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 8th Army encircled and destroyed the Russian 2nd Army. Using the rapid movements aided by the East Prussian railway network, the 8th Army reformed in front of the spread-out Russian 1st Army and pushed it back across its entire front, eventually ejecting it from Germany. Further progress was hampered by the arrival of the Russian 10th Army on the Germans' right flank.
By the conclusion of the battle, the Imperial German Army had destroyed the 2nd 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.