to save the 5th French army. Around the same time the BEF was involvedwith the battle at Mons with von Kluck’s army. Since they were outnumbered the Britishwere forced to retreat. At their wits end, France began to plead with their ally, Russia, to help them attackon the eastern front. But, as said before, Russia was un prepared. On the August 17, theGerman army withdrew as the Russian army advanced towards them. The reason theGermans withdrew was because they knew that the further west the Russian went, themore vulnerable they would become. Three days later the Germans switch gears intooffense, although the Russian army was hurt, it was the Germans who were forced toretreat. General Ludendorf was sent to take over command in the east. And the newcommanders concentrated on how to use all of their strength against the Russians. Rightbefore the Battle of Tennenberg, a Russian wireless was intercepted by the Germans, andint hose wireless’ were the Russians’ plans for attack. When the battle began, theRussian Sixth Corps was exhausted and hungry, they were not prepared for battle. Andso, Russia lost the battle. The same thing happened to the Twenty-Third Corps and theFirst Corps. Consequently, the entire Russian army retreated. Even the retreat turnedinto a disaster. The entire Russian command was killed or captured, A Russian Generalby the name of Samsonov committed suicide. The Russians were defeated. German soldiers poured into the French armies left wing by the thousands. Fordays, France fought and retreated, but the army was not yet beaten. Even though Pariswas at risk of being destroyed, all that mattered to the Generals now was that the soldiersnot be destroyed. To assist, the BEF sent more divisions to the left wing and the Frenchadded three more from overseas. On the 26th, the Germans were held at bay and the leftflank was finally saved. A couple of days later, von Kluck made the decision to...
