The French army's Plan XVII at the outbreak of the war involved swift mobilization followed by an immediate attack to drive the Germans from Alsace and Lorraine. The Eighth Army in East Prussia would go to war with barely 10 per cent of this total." The total strength of the fully mobilised German Army in 1914 amounted to 1,191 battalions, the great majority of which would be deployed against France. In the east, limited German forces would defend against any Russian attack until more forces became available from the west, fresh from victory over the French. According to Prit Buttar, "In combination with his own strong desire to fight an offensive war featuring outflanking and encircling movements, Schlieffen went on to develop his plan for a sweeping advance through Belgium. Germany entered World War I largely following the Schlieffen Plan. Although the battle actually took place near Allenstein ( Olsztyn), Hindenburg named it after Tannenberg, 30 km (19 mi) to the west, in order to avenge the Teutonic Knights' defeat at the First Battle of Tannenberg 500 years earlier. The almost miraculous outcome brought considerable prestige to Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and his rising staff-officer Erich Ludendorff. It is also notable for the failure of the Russians to encode their radio messages, broadcasting their daily marching orders in the clear, which allowed the Germans to make their movements with the confidence they would not be flanked. The battle is particularly notable for fast rail movements by the German Eighth Army, enabling them to concentrate against each of the two Russian armies in turn, first delaying the First Army and then destroying the Second before once again turning on the First days later. A series of follow-up battles ( First Masurian Lakes) destroyed most of the First Army as well and kept the Russians off balance until the spring of 1915. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 23 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The player who makes the better choices, and backs his strategy to the hilt, will emerge the victor.Vivat ribbon commemorating the Battle of Tannenberg, showing Wilhelm II and " Hindenburg the victor of Tannenberg" Both players have options and can achieve decisive success. T he historical outcome at Tannenberg was the destruction of Samsonov’s army, but it need not have been so. It must be brought to the point of decision, then supplied to give it the firepower to affect the fighting. The clumsy and inflexible fire support is represented by the artillery brigades available to division and corps commanders. However, here both players have hidden movement, allowing them to concentrate in unexpected locations to surround and destroy isolated enemy units. In 1914, although railroads allowed the rapid shifting of forces on a large scale, no one moved faster than a man on foot on the battlefield, making exploitation ineffective. Developed to portray the mechanized battlefields of a later generation, F&M stresses the use of rapidly-concentrated fire support to generate breakthroughs, followed by a rapid penetration by mobile reserves. Tannenberg uses a modification of the Fire & Movement game system. Those victory conditions vary with the strategic options chosen by each player so neither knows the other’s intent. This game focuses on the southern half of the campaign, with the northern half factored into the victory conditions. The lone German army there, Hindenburg’s Eighth, had to rely on interior lines and railroads to concentrate against each Russian army in turn. In August 1914, two Russian armies, Rennenkampf’s First and Samsonov’s Second, invaded the German province of East Prussia.
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