Tannenberg Avenged-Victory Of Stalingrad

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 38, 15 February 1943, Page 2

Tannenberg Avenged-Victory Of Stalingrad

TO many of those who remember * the last war in some detail, the final results of Russia's victory at Stalingrad must have recalled a Russian disaster in 1914. There is one particular point of similarity. In the struggle at Stalingrad, from January 10 to February 2, the Russians took 91,000 prisoners. In the first month of the last war, in the battle in East Prussia, which was given the name Tannenberg, the Germans claimed 90,000 prisoners.

By Cyrano

I say "claimed" because that was the figure cabled to us at the time, but I note that an encyclopaedia of recent years puts the total a good deal higher; in this estimate 90,000 is given as the number of unwounded prisoners. At any rate we read in a short message that the Germans said they had captured 90,000 prisoners. I can see the message in my mind's eye now. I suppose you have the same sort of visual memory; certain bits of news stand out in the past like islands.

A Classic Battle Well, it was a nasty knock, that 90,000, though we told ourselves the number was probably exaggerated. At the time we heard little about Tannenberg, but more about Russian victories against the Austrians. At Lemberg the Russians took 100,000 prisoners in one hit. This seemed to set off Tannenberg, but really it didn't. Tannenberg was, for the time being, and a pretty long time, a decisive victory. It put an end to the Russian invasion of East Prussia; it greatly strengthened German confidence; and it made Hindenburg into a national hero. Now the Germans have suffered a worse Tannenberg in the heart of Russia. It is interesting to compare the two battles. Tannenberg was a classic battle of open warfare. It showed how, with skilful handling, a smaller force might destroy a larger. The Russians upset German calculations by invading East Prussia in strength, and they met with some success. "Cossack" was still a dread word among the people there, and something like panic occurred among civilians. * The German high command, however, kept its head and acted quickly. It should be noted that the Russian drive into German territory was designed, partly at any rate, to take pressure off the French and British in grave trouble on the western front; what we owed to the Russians in those days and for many days after should never be forgotten.

But what followed in East Prussia was complete disaster. The Germans handled their forces in such a way as to commit the Russians to an offensive in difficult country, and then counter-attacked with an enveloping movement. The German dispositions worked with beautiful precision, and the Russian Army was surrounded and largely destroyed According to the account I have mentioned, 130,000 wounded and unbounded prisoners were taken, 40,000 men were killed, and only 10,000 got away. War in a Fog r The figures of Tannenberg were far exceeded by other battles or series of battles in the last war. The Italians lost 200,000 or more men captured in the Caporetto defeat. The British Army alone took 190,000 prisoners in its final advance on the western front. But Tannenberg was the sort of battle that stays in the mind. Like Blenheim, Waterloo Omdurman, Sedan, and the surrender at Metz, it was rounded and complete, and could be grasped by the lay mind. The battles of 1914-18 in the west, after the armies had dug themselves in, were part of a continuous line of struggle stretching over hundreds of miles, and it was difficult to see each area as a separate entity.

It has been the same this Russian campaign. The combatants are locked in a thousand-mile battle line. We cannot remember names of places or sometimes even identify them. The war seems to be fought in a fog. The losses are terrific, the advances and retreats deep, but we do not easily put a name and shape to victories and defeats. Stalingrad has provided an exception. The city has stood out like a rock in a desert, and attracted the attention of the world. The long struggle round the city, the German advance into it, the suspense about its fate, the Russian counter-thrust, the encirclement of the Germans, and the gradual tightening of the ring round the enemy—all this gave? the battle of Stalingrad a relatively clear form, and it became clearer when final victory was achieved and the figures were announced. Three hundred and thirty thousand men were killed or captured at Stalingrad, about twice as many as at Tannenberg. Moreover, it wasn't a question of so many divisions being destroyed; it was a whole army, the largest unit in the military organisation. Here is a drama we can all follow and understand. Fighting to the Finish Tannenberg, a fluid battle of manoeuvre, lasted six days. The final Russian assault on the trapped German army at Stalingrad lasted 23 days, but the time spent in getting into position should be added. After the ring had been closed, it was a slogging match. Strategically and from the point of view of prestige, the prolonged German resistance was sound policy. It kept employed a Russian army that otherwise would have swelled the forces moving westward. The surrender of scores of thousands of men in a body would have been more serious for German prestige than what actually happened. When Bazaine surrendered at Metz in the FrancoPrussian War, • 180,000 men laid down their arms. That famine was the cause did not count for much with world opinion. Men were shocked by the capitulation of a great army. Stalingrad is a measure of Russian military, progress since 1914. At Tannenberg the Russians were indifferently led, but the army as a whole had first-rate generals. The men were courageous and stubborn. What was wrong was the military system and the national organisation behind it. Most of the soldiers were illiterate. The Germans were much better organised, equipped and trained. To-day the Russians are very well led; equipment and general organisation for war have vastly improved; nearly everyone can read and write; and the whole country is behind the army. Tannenberg. or something like it, might have happened to an army of any country. Such a victory as Stalingrad could only be won by first-class troops, splendidly led, thoroughly well equipped, and backed to the limit by their people.