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==The Battle==

The Germans planning was very much helped by their intelligence services. On August 26, the Germans intercepted wireless communications between the Russian First and Second Army. This allowed them to know the positions and intentions of the two Russian army commanders. They also had aerial recognizance photographs. Based on the intelligence reports, the Germans decided to launch a surprise attack. The German army moved forward to meet the Russians near Allenstein. The Russian army was huge and slow-moving, and the commander was overconfident and arrogant.<ref> Harrison, Richard W., "Samsonov and the Battle of Tannenberg, 1914", in Bond, Brian, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/008040717X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=008040717X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=8ae3d51880ebc76b4b4fd8070c6f9f85 Fallen Stars. Eleven Studies of Twentieth-Century Military Disaster]</i>, London: Brassey's, pp. 13–31 </ref> Von Hindenburg and Ludendorff ordered the German Divisions to move forward. The forward units of the Russian army were soon sighted, but it was such a huge army that it would take some time for it to be in a position to attack the Germans. The German commanders then ordered a three-day artillery bombardment, which inflicted appalling casualties on the Russian Divisions. However, they continued to press forward. On the 26th of August, the Germans launched their attack. They placed their best divisions on the flanks, and they easily drove back the Russian flanks.