Mazurian Lakes
BATTLE OF, one of the first encounters of magnitude between the German and Russian forces after the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. The lakes, numerous small sheets of water in a vast marsh, south of Königsberg, East Prussia, constituted very difficult ground for an invading army. It was his personal knowledge of this terrain that caused General von MEADE Hindenburg to be recalled from the retired list, to command the German forces which were sent to retrieve the initial defeat of the German forces, after they had been driven back by the Russians, under General Rennenkampf, on Aug. 20, 1914. Arriving in the field a few days later, Von Hindenburg, with a much inferior force, attacked the Russian forces under Samsonoff, numbering nearly 250,000, near Tannenberg, and through his intimate knowledge of the swamps, maneuvered the enemy into such a position that he was hopelessly defeated. Thousands of the Russians were engulfed in the mire, their escape cut off by the strategy of the German commander, Samsonoff himself being among the slain. One hundred thousand were taken prisoners. Practically this whole Russian army was annihilated, so that Von Hindenburg was able to turn his attention to the main Russian forces and force their retirement beyond the frontier.