Aleksandr Vasilyevich Samsonov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Самсо́нов,
tr. ; ) was a career officer in the
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
of the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
and a general during the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
and
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He was the commander of the
Russian Second Army
The Russian 2nd Army (2-я армия, ''2А'') was an army-level command of the Imperial Russian Army in World War I. It was formed just prior to the outbreak of hostilities from the units of Warsaw Military District and was mobilized in August 19 ...
which was surrounded and defeated by the
German Eighth Army in the
Battle of Tannenberg
The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russi ...
, 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
Kherson Governorate
The Kherson Governorate (1802–1922; russian: Херсонская губерния, translit.: ''Khersonskaya guberniya''; uk, Херсонська губернія, translit=Khersonska huberniia), was an administrative territorial unit (als ...
of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
in what is now part of
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. After graduation from the Vladimir of Kiev Cadet Corps and elite , he joined the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
at age 18 as a
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
in the 12th
Hussar
A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...
s Regiment.
Samsonov fought in the
Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78.
[Barbara Tuchman, ''The Guns of August'' (New York: Random House Trade Paperback, 2014 (first published 1962, Macmillan Publishing)), p. 295.] After this war he attended the
Nikolaevsky Military Academy in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
[Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', pp. 341–42.] On November 4, 1888, he was appointed senior aide to the staff of the 20th Infantry Division, and from July 10, 1885, to February 4, 1889, served as Senior Staff Adjutant to the Caucasus Grenadier Division. From March 11, 1890, through July 26, 1896, he worked at various assignments at the
Warsaw Military District
The Warsaw Military District ( pl, Warszawski Okręg Wojskowy, WOW) was one of three military districts in Poland, the other two being the Pomeranian Military District and the Silesian Military District. It was the regional executive body of the ...
. He subsequently became commandant of the Elisavetgrad Cavalry School. During the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
(1900), Samsonov commanded a cavalry unit. During the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
(1904–1905), Samsonov commanded a cavalry brigade of the Ussuri Siberian Cossack Division. He was promoted to command all Russian cavalry forces in the First Siberian Army Corps following the Russian defeat at the
Battle of Telissu
The Battle of Te-li-ssu ( '), also called Battle of Wafangou (russian: Бой у Вафангоу) after the nearby railway station, was a land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. It was fought at a hamlet some north of Port Arthur, Manchuria. ...
. His forces subsequently protected the Russian flanks at the
Battle of Liaoyang.
Through these conflicts Samsonov gained a reputation as an energetic and resourceful leader, but some observers criticized his strategic abilities. He had no command experience preparing him to command an army of thirteen divisions.
In 1906, Samsonov became
Chief of staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
of the Warsaw Military District, and in 1909 was Governor-General of
Russian Turkestan
Russian Turkestan (russian: Русский Туркестан, Russkiy Turkestan) was the western part of Turkestan within the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories, and was administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship. It comprised the ...
and commander of the
Turkestan Military District
The Turkestan Military District (russian: Туркестанский военный округ (ТуркВО), ''Turkestansky voyenyi okrug (TurkVO)'') was a military district of both the Imperial Russian Army and the Soviet Armed Forces, with it ...
.
He was also
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
of the
Semirechye Cossacks
Semirechyenskoe (Ukrainian Steppe Frontier) Cossack Host (russian: Семиреченское казачье войско) was a Cossack host in Imperial Russia, located in the Semirechyenskaya Oblast (today comprising most of Kyrgyzstan as wel ...
.
The Great War
Command of the Russian Second Army
![Alexander-samsonow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Alexander-samsonow.jpg)
At the start of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Samsonov received the command of the
Russian Second Army
The Russian 2nd Army (2-я армия, ''2А'') was an army-level command of the Imperial Russian Army in World War I. It was formed just prior to the outbreak of hostilities from the units of Warsaw Military District and was mobilized in August 19 ...
for the
invasion
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
of
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
,
[ which was defended by the German Eighth Army under the command of General ]Maximilian von Prittwitz
Maximilian “Max” Wilhelm Gustav Moritz von Prittwitz und Gaffron (27 November 1848 – 29 March 1917) was an Imperial German general. He fought in the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War, and briefly in the First World War.
Fami ...
. Samsonov advanced slowly into the south-western corner of East Prussia, intending to link up with the Russian First Army
The 1st Army (russian: 1-я армия, translit=1А) was an army-level command of the Russian Imperial Army created during World War I. The First Army, commanded by General Paul von Rennenkampf, invaded East Prussia at the outbreak of war in ...
, commanded by General Paul von Rennenkampf
Paul Georg Edler von Rennenkampf ( rus, Па́вел Ка́рлович Ренненка́мпф, r=Pavel Karlovich Rennenkampf, p=ˈpavʲɪɫ ̍karɫəvʲɪtɕ ˈrʲennʲenˈkampf; – 1 April 1918) was a Baltic German nobleman, statesman an ...
, which had started advancing into the north-east section of East Prussia. However, lack of communications between the two armies, and with the rear command of the Northwest Army Group, hindered co-ordination.
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
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
where Samsonov had publicly quarrelled with Rennenkampf on the landing platform of a railway station, and that the two were mutual lifetime enemies.[Tuchman, ''Guns of August'', p. 319.] However, the original source of this story is considered to be Max Hoffmann
Carl Adolf Maximilian Hoffmann (25 January 1869 – 8 July 1927) was a German military strategist. As a staff officer at the beginning of World War I, he was Deputy Chief of Staff of the 8th Army, soon promoted Chief of Staff. Hoffmann, along w ...
, at that time a colonel on the staff of the German Eighth Army. His claim of first hand knowledge of the disagreement is contradicted by the injuries to Rennenkampff at the time. 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.[
]
Battle of Tannenberg
Rennenkampf and the Russian First Army were the first to encounter the German Eighth Army, winning the Battle of Gumbinnen
The Battle of Gumbinnen, initiated by forces of the German Empire on 20 August 1914, was a German offensive on the Eastern Front during the First World War. Because of the hastiness of the German attack, the Russian Army emerged victorious.
Bac ...
. The defeat led the German High Command to dismiss von Prittwitz and his chief of staff, replacing them with General (later Field Marshal) Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...
and General Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. ...
. Hindenburg and Ludendorff arrived on the Eastern Front and decided to attack Samsonov's advancing forces with the full weight of the Eighth Army. Hindenburg and Ludendorff were strengthened in making this decision by intercepted Russian wireless communications, which indicated that Rennenkampf and the Russian First Army could not reach the proposed battle in time to be of assistance, and by an intercepted order from Samsonov, showing the movement of his forces.[ The armies made contact on August 22 and for six days the numerically superior Russians had some success. However, by August 29 the Germans had surrounded Samsonov's Second Army in the woods between ]Allenstein
Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini''
* Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
and Willenberg. The rout that followed was named the Battle of Tannenberg
The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russi ...
by Hindenburg, to compensate for a defeat of the Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
by the Kingdom of Poland
The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to:
Historical political entities
*Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031
*Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exist ...
and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...
at the same location five centuries earlier.
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.[Tuchman, ''The Guns of August'', p. 335.]
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 Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
trusted me. How can I face him after such a disaster?" They reached the town of Willenberg late at night, but found it was held by the Germans. At approximately 1 a.m. on August 30, Samsonov slipped away from his party into the forest. A shot rang out. The Russians were not able to find his body in the darkness, but were eventually able to make their way to safety.[
A German search party eventually found Samsonov's body in the adjacent forest, a bullet wound in his head and a ]revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
in his hand.[ Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in ''August 1914'' (1971) which traces the course of the battle, also implies suicide.] The Germans buried Samsonov in Willenberg. In 1916, through the intercession of the International Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
, the Germans transferred his body to his widow, who was able to bury him in Russia.[
]
Honours
*
Order of St. Anne, 4th degree (1877)
*
Order of St. Stanislaus
The Order of Saint Stanislaus ( pl, Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa Męczennika, russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Ponia ...
, 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
The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir (russian: орден Святого Владимира) was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, ...
, 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
The Order of Saint George (russian: Орден Святого Георгия, Orden Svyatogo Georgiya) is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. Originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) a ...
, 4th class (1907)
*
Order of the White Eagle, with swords (1909)
*
Order of St. Alexander Nevsky
The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on by Empress Catherine I of Russia.
History
The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Empero ...
(1913)
References
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, .
* Jukes, Geoffry. ''The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905''. Osprey Essential Histories. (2002). .
* Warner, Denis and Peggy. ''The Tide at Sunrise, A History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905''. (1975). .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samsonov, Alexander
1859 births
1914 suicides
People from Kirovohrad Oblast
People from Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd
Imperial Russian Army generals
Russian military personnel of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)
Russian military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion
Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War
Russian military personnel killed in World War I
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia)
Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class
Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class
Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class
Recipients of the Gold Sword for Bravery
Russian military personnel who committed suicide
Suicides by firearm in Poland
Russian military personnel of World War I