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3 unusual facts about Alexander Samsonov


Alexander Samsonov

Shocked by the disastrous outcome of the battle and unable to face reporting the scale of the disaster, for which he knew he would be held responsible, to Tsar Nicholas II, Samsonov never arrived back at headquarters; he committed suicide on 30 August 1914 near Willenberg.

General (later Field Marshal) Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff, who arrived on the Eastern Front to replace General Maximilian von Prittwitz, engaged Samsonov's advancing forces.

Hermann von François

Following that battle and a change of overall commanders (Prittwitz was judged to have lost his nerve by the German High Command), François' corps was transferred by rail to the southwest, to confront the Russian Second Army advancing into southern East Prussia under the command of General Alexander Samsonov.



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