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4 unusual facts about Hermann von François


Hermann von François

The telegram impressed the Kaiser so much that he immediately relieved Schubert and, on 3 October, gave von François the command of the 8th Army.

When war broke out in August 1914, François' corps faced the right wing of a two-pronged Russian invasion of East Prussia, led by Paul von Rennenkampf's Russian First Army.

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.

On August 17, the overall German theater commander, General Maximilian von Prittwitz, nervously eying the advance of the Russian left wing far to the south, ordered Von François to retreat while under heavy attack from Rennenkampf.



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