Alexander Samsonov
Aleksandr Vasilyevich Samsonov | |
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Second Army (1914) | |
Battles/wars | Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War
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Awards | See Honours |
Aleksandr Vasilyevich Samsonov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Самсо́нов, tr. Aleksándr Vasíl’evič Samsónov; 14 November [O.S. 2 November] 1859 – 30 August [O.S. 17 August] 1914) was a career officer in the cavalry of the Imperial Russian Army and a general during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. He was the commander of the Russian Second Army which was surrounded and defeated by the German Eighth Army in the Battle of Tannenberg, one of the early battles of World War I. Ashamed by his loss of the Army, Samsonov committed suicide while retreating from the battlefield.
Early military career
He was born in
Samsonov fought in the
In 1906, Samsonov became
The Great War
Command of the Russian Second Army
At the start of World War I, Samsonov received the command of the Russian Second Army for the invasion of East Prussia,[1] which was defeated by the German Eighth Army under the command of General Maximilian von Prittwitz.[4] Samsonov advanced slowly into the south-western corner of East Prussia, intending to link up with the Russian First Army, commanded by General Paul von Rennenkampf, which had started advancing into the north-east section of East Prussia.[5] However, lack of communications between the two armies, and with the rear command of the Northwest Army Group, hindered co-ordination.[6]
It is sometimes claimed that the poor coordination between Samsonov and Rennenkampf during the campaign was based on their personal antagonism towards each other. This antagonism is said to have been based on an incident after the Battle of Liaoyang during the Russo-Japanese War where Samsonov had publicly quarrelled with Rennenkampf on the landing platform of a railway station, and that the two were mutual lifetime enemies.[7] However, the original source of this story is considered to be Max Hoffmann, at that time a colonel on the staff of the German Eighth Army.[8] His claim of first hand knowledge of the disagreement is contradicted by the injuries to Rennenkampff at the time.[9] Hoffman appears to have advanced this story during planning sessions, in support of his argument that Rennenkampf would not come to the aid of Samsonov. He argued that the German Eighth Army was free to use all of its forces in the attack on the Russian Second Army to their south, without fear of a counter-attack from their rear by the Russian First Army.[7]
Battle of Tannenberg
Rennenkampf and the Russian First Army were the first to encounter the German Eighth Army, winning the
Retreat and death
Samsonov attempted to retreat, but with his army now trapped in a German encirclement, the German forces killed or captured most of his troops. Only 10,000 of the 150,000 Russian soldiers managed to escape the encirclement. At least 92,000 Russian troops were taken prisoner, and between 300 and 500 Russian guns had been captured, out of the Second Army's initial total of some 600. Over 30,000 Russian soldiers were estimated dead or missing.[14]
Samsonov and a small group of staff officers and men attempted to escape the encirclement, at first on horseback, and then on foot, over swampy ground, in the darkness of the night of August 29. Samsonov repeatedly was heard to say "The
A German search party eventually found Samsonov's body in the adjacent forest, a bullet wound in his head and a revolver in his hand.[15][16] The Germans buried Samsonov in Willenberg. In 1916, through the intercession of the International Red Cross, the Germans transferred his body to his widow, who was able to bury him in Russia.[14]
Honours
- Order of St. Anne, 4th degree (1877)
- Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree (1880)
- Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree (1885)
- Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd degree (1889)
- Order of St. Anne, 2nd degree (1892)
- Order of St Vladimir, 4th degree (1896)
- Order of St Vladimir, 3rd degree (1900)
- Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st degree with swords (1904)
- Order of St. Anne, 1st degree (1905)
- Golden Sword of St. George (1906)
- Order of St Vladimir, 2nd degree (1906)
- Order of St. George, 4th class (1907)
- Order of the White Eagle, with swords (1909)
- Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (1913)
References
- ^ a b Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August (New York: Random House Trade Paperback, 2014 (first published 1962, Macmillan Publishing)), p. 295.
- ^ a b c Kowner, Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War, pp. 341–42.
- ^ Tuchman, The Guns of August, p. 314.
- ^ Tuchman, The Guns of August, p. 297.
- ^ Tuchman, The Guns of August, pp. 294-295.
- ^ Tuchman, The Guns of August pp. 292, 295, 296, 323, 325.
- ^ a b c Tuchman, Guns of August, p. 319.
- OCLC 175071485.
- ^ "von Rennenkampf, Pavel-Georges Karlovich". 2011-09-27. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
- ^ Tuchman, The Guns of August, pp. 309-312.
- ^ Tuchman, The Guns of August, p.320.
- ISBN 978-0-684-83130-5, Ch. 16.
- ^ Tuchman, The Guns of August, p. 337.
- ^ a b c Tuchman, The Guns of August, p. 335.
- ^ Biography (in German) Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in August 1914 (1971) which traces the course of the battle, also implies suicide.
Bibliography
- Connaughton, R.M (1988). The War of the Rising Sun and the Tumbling Bear—A Military History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–5, London, ISBN 0-415-00906-5.
- Jukes, Geoffry. The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Osprey Essential Histories. (2002). ISBN 978-1-84176-446-7.
- Warner, Denis and Peggy. The Tide at Sunrise, A History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. (1975). ISBN 0-7146-5256-3.