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.
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.
Hindenburg, and his chief of staff Erich Ludendorff, then destroyed the two invading Russian armies at the Battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes.
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