The year 1914 was marked by an atmosphere that made people shudder at the future of humanity, and even the most courageous and courageous would have shed tears.

On August 5, French Army Minister Messimi was full of confidence and courage in his opening speech at the cabinet meeting, but in the middle of his speech, he suddenly interrupted, hid his face and wept, and it was difficult to continue.

When Winston Churchill, the British Secretary of the Admiralty, saw off the British Expeditionary Force and left Britain for the French battlefield, he couldn't hold back his tears and couldn't stop crying.

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On 5 August, the French ambassador, Paleolog, met with the Tsar and said: "I beg your Majesty to order your army to take an immediate offensive, otherwise the French army is in danger of being annihilated." ”

The Tsar was grateful to the French for their faithfulness to the Entente, much as he had shown their allegiance by supporting France, and he declared with confidence and courage: "Our original aim was to annihilate the German army." ”

The tsar assured the French that he had ordered the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Grand Duke Nicholas, to "open the road to Berlin as soon as possible, at any cost." ”

The French ambassador then asked to see the Grand Duke, a cousin of the Tsar's father.

In fact, for a country as vast as Russia, orders were issued, but no one could be sure that they were delivered. The lack of communication equipment and trained signal corps made it impossible for the Russian soldiers to be able to move quickly and reliably, and the lack of mobile transport vehicles also made it difficult for the Russian soldiers to move quickly. But the Grand Duke assured the French that, in order to keep ******'s promise to start the operation on the 15th day, he would begin a major attack without waiting for all his troops to be assembled.

On August 6, the Russian General Staff ordered that preparations must be made "to launch a powerful offensive against the Germans as soon as possible in order to ease the situation facing France." Of course, this can only be done if you have enough power. ”

Thereafter, as a result of the influx of telegrams urging from Paris, and the rhetoric of the French ambassador, the phrase "sufficient strength" was omitted by 10 August, when the order of the Russian General Staff read: "In view of the fact that Germany is preparing to strike suddenly at France, it is our duty to support France, and this support must be carried out as quickly as possible against Germany against its forces remaining in East Prussia." ”

On 13 August, on a charming summer night, the Grand Duke left the capital for the Field Command in Baranovez. It was the junction of the Moscow-Warsaw railway line, at the midpoint of the German-Austrian front. The Grand Duke and his staff and their families gathered on the platform of the St. Petersburg station, waiting for the arrival of the Tsar to see off the Commander-in-Chief. But due to the empress's obstruction, Nicholas II did not show up. Finally, the Grand Duke and his staff silently boarded the train and set off for the front.

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Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany.

"Your Highness, an advance cavalry unit of the opposing side has crossed the border, and they have subsequently occupied the town of Magrabova, eight kilometers from the border, although the inhabitants of it have been removed a week ago." In the general staff headquarters in Königsberg, a staff officer reports on the latest movements of the Russian army.

"It's finally here!" Chentian, who was hunching on the table studying the map, straightened up and placed his right hand on his left chest.

"Generals, Prussian warriors, for us, the battle begins today!"

Everyone was doing the same thing with enthusiasm.

The Russian forces attacking the Prussian area included the 1st Army of Leningkamp and Samsonov's 2nd Army, of which the 1st Army had 6.5 infantry divisions, 5.5 cavalry divisions, and 492 artillery pieces, and the 2nd Army had 11.5 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, and 720 artillery pieces, with a total strength of 450,000 troops.

The Russian plan was for the 1st Army to attack head-on from the Insterberg Pass, while the 2nd Army to penetrate the Matsu area from the south and deal a decisive blow to the German defenders from the flanks and rear.

The first to cross the German border was the 1st cavalry division of the Russian 1st Army.

The commander of the 1st Army, Leningkamp, was a 61-year-old general, neat, tall and bearded. During the Russo-Japanese War and the suppression of the revolution in 1905, he was known in the military for his courage and determination. But there was a thin shadow over the general, that is, he was a descendant of the Germans, and there was some suspicion of his loyalty.

After receiving reports of the evacuation of the towns and the flight of the inhabitants, both Leningkamp and the commander of Army Group Northwest, General Gilinsky, deduced that the Germans did not intend to put up serious resistance in the area east of the Vistula, and were extremely excited.

In order to show his loyalty, Lenningkamp hurriedly concentrated 3 corps and 5.5 cavalry divisions and launched an offensive on 17 August. His 200,000 men crossed the border along a 55-kilometer front, targeting the Insterburg Gorge, 60 kilometers from the border. However, at this time, the Russian 2nd Army was in trouble. There was no east-west railway between Russian Poland and East Prussia, so they had to cross a forested, swampy wasteland to cross the border to join the 1st Army.

Samsonov was unfamiliar with the region and with his troops and staff. At the time of the outbreak of the war, at the age of 55, he was recuperating in the Caucasus, and it was not until August 12 that he arrived at the headquarters of the 2nd Army in Warsaw to take up his post as commander of the army. The irregular communication links between his forces and the Leninkamp forces, as well as with the Gilinsky Command, which was based in the rear to coordinate the movement of their two forces, had a very negative impact on their ensuing fighting.

"Colonel Hoffman, how long will it take for the 2nd Russian Army to reach the border?" In the operational command room, the commander of the 1st Infantry Corps, General François, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Corps, General Mackenyan, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Corps, General Oli, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Corps, Colonel Matthew, the commander of the 4th Infantry Corps, the deputy commander of the Panzer Corps, Colonel Olg, the commander of the Cavalry Division, General Bello, the commander of the Cavalry Division, the commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Hogel, and all the generals of the East Prussian Corps gathered here to wait for their first order.

"3 days!" Max. Hoffman returned to the Tao succinctly, and Chen Tian admired this sharp-eyed staff officer.

"Let's act on Plan B!"

All the generals stood up in unison, and Chen Tian saluted everyone solemnly.

"The first battle on the Eastern Front, I wish you all victory!"

Without superfluous words, everyone shook hands with Chen Tian one by one, and then calmly left the command room, and they would immediately return to their troops.

"General François!" Chen Tian held the hand of this fierce general brother tightly.

"Remember what I said?"

"Yes, Your Highness! Follow orders and be adaptable! François still had a cold expression, but his eyes were full of reverence for the prince.

"Good, go ahead!"

In the evening, General Leinenkamp's Russian First Army stopped in the Tannenberg area, 40 kilometers from the border, where they prepared to stay for a night before continuing their advance.

For a whole day, they did not see a single German, not even a German sheep, a German dog, only a few planes constantly circling over their heads. Lenenkamp had his soldiers shoot their machine guns into the sky several times, but to no avail, as the planes had been kept on a higher level.

"Cowardly German pig!" Lenenkamp and his soldiers cursed that the planes were nothing more than wooden toys to them.

After sending a dozen patrols around the camp, Lenningkamp slipped into his tent and began to enjoy his dreams, where he thought there might be some resistance to the Insterburg Gap tomorrow, but the decisive battle would not take place until the whole of East Prussia had reached the Vistula.

At about 12 o'clock, Leningkamp was awakened by several explosions, and he rushed out of his tent shirtless, calling his adjutant, as the other soldiers emerged from their tents.

"Let's find out what's going on!" He roared in frustration, and two hours earlier the patrol had reported to him that there was no sign of the Germans within ten kilometers of the vicinity.

After a while, his lieutenant trotted all the way in front of him.

"General, the camp of the 3rd Corps was shelled by unknown shelling from the west, and the opposing side fired a total of 3 shells from large-caliber howitzers, and 5 of our troops were killed and 19 wounded! General Jozep has already sent 1 cavalry regiment to the west! ”

"Large-caliber howitzers? What a damn one! I'll see how these guys can escape! He spat the ground and then slept back into the tent.

Three hours later, Lenenkamp was once again awakened by the sound of a cannonball exploding, this time with his red eyes and a scolding spell.

"Are those damn patrols rice buckets? I don't know if the enemy is close! Tomorrow, tomorrow I'm going to throw them all to Siberia! ”

This time, his adjutant did not wait for his order and went directly to the camp, which had been shelled, to inquire about the situation. Soon he ran back out of breath.

"General, this time the 5th Corps was shelled from the north, and the other side still fired 3 shells with howitzers, and our troops lost 7 soldiers and 18 were wounded. General Sokolov has already sent 2 cavalry regiments to the north! ”

"Did the troops sent out by General Joep find anything?" Lenenkamp remembered that he had troops tracking the opponent's artillery a few hours ago, and he should have caught up with the opponent at his speed.

"General, an hour ago General Josip reported that no trace of the other party was found!"

"Rice bucket! It's a rice bucket! Four-legged cannons can't outrun horse-drawn cannons! Unbeknownst to Rainingkamp, it was not horse-drawn cannons that were racing against his cavalry, but cart-drawn cannons, and that his cavalry might be able to catch up if they had four tires.

At dawn, the Russian camp was attacked again, this time by two planes swinging their wings and dropping six bombs, hitting a Russian cooking squad, scattering food fragments and wounding 13 soldiers. Of course, most importantly, once again disturbed the good dreams of Lenningkamp, the poor general flew into a rage and vowed on the spot to defecate in the Berlin Imperial Palace.

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