TheCodeBreakers
of the German headquarters for the Eastern Front at Posen by the next
afternoon.
It was immediately forwarded to Mackensen. At 7:30 p.m., with this
picture of the Russian dispositions before him, he telephoned his order
for the next day to his subordinates. It called for an all-out attack,
concentrating on the meeting line of the two armies in the hope of driving
them apart and breaking through.
He achieved a massive success. The Russian forces were
ryccmn Kpmmojiozux 353
split; they pulled back hastily to the south. Mackensen shoved the
dagger in up to the hilt. At the same time, Ludendorff pinned the front
Russian armies in combat and sent a corps to turn the Russian left
flank. He hoped to effect another Tannenberg—a double envelopment. In
sharp fighting around Lodz, the German forces drove their enemy back,
abetted by a constant stream of cryptanalyzed intelligence. On November