1914_0823_01s: The Creeping Tide - FWWC 02 East Prussia '14

Lahna and Orlau, East Prussia, 23rd August 1914: Two days after the 2nd Russian Army crossed the frontier, Martos' XV Army Corps was steadily advancing towards the strategically important town of Hohenstein. In their path stood the lone 37.Infanterie-Division, part of von Scholtz's XX.Armeekorps. At the outbreak of the campaign, the XX.Armeekorps was assigned the task of screening the entire southern frontier of East Prussia, and did so to the best of its abilities as the remainder of the 8.Armee fought the opening battles of Stallupönen and Gumbinen. By the 23rd, it was obvious that the Russian 2nd Army was present in force and making a determined push to cut off the whole of 8.Armee. In any case, the outlook appeared bleak, especially for von Scholtz whos corps was outnumbered by Russian units on his front by a margin of at least four to one. Von Scholtz, given all of the territorial units that could be spared, redeployed his corps from its initial deployment at Jedwabno and Ortelsburg to a line Gilgenburg - Kownatki - Frankenau - Lahna - Orlau, thus making the corps, out of necessity, spread thinly over a front of over 30 kilometers. Informed that the bulk of 8.Armee was in the process of redeploying to his sector to counter attack the Russian 2nd Army, and with the 3.Reserve-Division en-route to Hohenstein to cover the rear, von Scholtz decided that the 37.Infanterie-Division would stand its ground. Against the odds it would have to bloody the Russian XV Army Corps to slow the creeping tide. [Size: medium] *See the notes document for information on scenario design decisions and historical notes.