Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes

Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes
Part of the Eastern Front during World War I
Eastern Front, February 7–18, 1915
Date 7–22 February 1915 Location East Prussia , German Empire (present-day Poland) Result German victory
Belligerents
German Empire	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff Max Hoffmann Hermann von Eichhorn	Nikolai Ruzsky Thadeus von Sievers Pavel Plehve
Units involved
Eighth Army Tenth Army	Tenth Army Twelfth Army
Strength
Initially 100,000 men	Initially 220,000 men
Casualties and losses
Light losses;16,200 KIA, MIA, WIA	200,000 killed, wounded, missing

The Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, also known as the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes, was the northern part of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1915. The offensive was intended to advance beyond the Vistula River and perhaps knock Russia out of the war.

The Central Powers planned four offensives on their Eastern Front in early 1915. The Germans, led by Paul von Hindenburg, would attack eastward from their front line in western Poland, which had been occupied after the Battle of Łódź in 1914, toward the Vistula River and also in East Prussia in the vicinity of the Masurian Lakes (site of the 1914 Battle of the Masurian Lakes). The Austro-Hungarians would emerge from the Carpathian Mountain passes to attack the Russians by driving toward Lemberg. They would be led by General Alexander von Linsingen. Further south General Borojevic von Bojna would attempt to relieve the besieged fortress at Przemysl.

German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn strongly believed that the war would be won on the Western Front. Nonetheless, he sent four additional army corps to Paul von Hindenburg, commander of their Eastern Front. By February 1915, thirty-six percent of the German field army was in the east.

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