TheCodeBreakers
decisive victory against France first. This single force was approximately
as strong as either Russian army but desperately weaker than both
combined, and the general staff had dictated as its strategy to strike with
all possible strength at the first Russian force within reach, then to turn
and attack the second. East Prussia was the homeland of the Junkers.
The Germans preferred not to yield it to the hideous trampling of the
Slav.
They gave battle to Rennenkampf at Gumbinnen. Under a hammering
Russian artillery barrage, the German troops broke and fled 15 miles to
the rear before they could be halted. The frightened German commander
prepared to fall back to the Vistula River and abandon East Prussia. He
reported his intentions to the German high command, which promptly
began looking for a replacement. But his brainy First General Staff
Officer, Colonel Max Hoffmann, pointed out that the southern Russian
annaabi.ee 
