Winter on the Masurian Lakes of East Prussia. German forces launched the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in a blinding snowstorm.

Oestl. Kriegsschauplatz: Zur Masurenschlacht: An einem masurischen See

Eastern Theater of war: At the Masurian battle: On a Masurian Lake

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Photogr. R. Sennecke



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Sunday, February 7, 1915

"Despite intense blizzards and subzero temperatures that covered the area with over five feet of snow, Ludendorff refused to delay the main attacks. Roads and railroads lay hidden under giant snowbanks. Guns and munition and ration wagons required double and even treble the usual number of horses. The opening attacks nevertheless succeeded remarkably well considering the conditions, and they achieved almost total surprise."

Quotation Context

After a defeat and retreat back to Russia in the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the Russians had again advanced into East Prussia with their Tenth Army. The Second, or Winter, Battle of the Masurian Lakes was an attempt by Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff, German commanders on the Russian front, to sever the lines of communications between Vilna and Warsaw, and envelop the Russian Tenth Army using the German Eighth Army attacking from the west on February 7, and the new Tenth Army from the north the next day. The Russians did not know the German Tenth Army existed.

Source

The German High Command at War: Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the First World War by Robert B. Asprey, page 163, copyright © 1991 by Robert B. Asprey, publisher: Warner Books, publication date: 1991

Tags

Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, Masurian Lakes, 1915, 1915-02-07, 1915-02-08, Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes, February