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==The Battle==
[[File: Tannenbergschlacht.jpg|thumbnail| Von Hindenburg at the Battle of Tannenberg]]
The Germans planning was very much helped by their intelligence services. On August the 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 armies commanders, they also had aerial recognisance 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>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.
Ludendorff and Von Hindenberg ordered the centre of the German army to give way before the Russian centre, where the bulk of the enemy’s forces had been concentrated. In the words of Ludendorff ‘’In the first place, we opposed a thin centre to Samsonov's solid mass. I say thin, not weak. For it was composed of men with hearts and wills of steel. Behind them were their homes, wives and children, parents and relatives and everything they had. It was the 10th Corps, brave East and West Prussians’’ Prussians.’’ <ref>Paul Von Hindenberg, "A summary of the Battle of Tannenberg." <i>Source Records of the Great War, Vol. II</i>, ed. Charles F. Horne (National Alumni, London, 1923) </ref>.
The Russians were unaware that they were entering into a trap until it was too late. The German artillery pounded the Russians and they smashed the advance, the divisions of the Tsar were soon in disarray. The commander of the 2nd army ordered his men to retreat but it was too late. The Germans had outflanked the Imperial Russian units and they had effectively trapped them. The Russian army disintegrated and suffered appalling casualties and it was every man for himself.<ref>Strachan, p. 113</ref> Many Russians escaped through the marshes and woods of East Prussia, but even more were killed or captured. Samsonov knew that his army was surrounded and that he was no longer in control, he resigned his command and went into a nearby forest and he shot himself. The Germans had secured a remarkable victory.
