Battle of Stalluponen

The first major action in the east took place when German Corps commander Herman von Francois led an unauthorised attack on General Pavel Rennenkampf entering East Prussia. <br/>
On August 17, Rennenkampf had started the invasion of East Prussia, marching the First Army directly westward towards the German lines. Although he faced no resistance, Rennenkampf stopped his advance in a neat line about five miles (8 km) from the border. Acting without orders, François decided to take his forces to Stallupönen where one of the Russian divisions was resting. A furious frontal attack broke the Russian division, which fled eastward, losing 5,000 casualties and 3,000 prisoners, almost the entirety of the Russian 105th Regiment.
Francois checked the Russian army at Stalluponen (modern Nesterov) and took 3,000 prisoners. He then fell back west to Gumbinnen to support the main German counter-offensive.

Germans	Russians
Commander	Commander
Hermann von François	Paul von Rennenkampf
Forces	Forces
—	—
Casualties	Casualties
1,227 casualties	5,000 killed or wounded, 3,000 prisoners

The Battles of History