Grunwald

Grunwald or Tannenberg, village in north-east Poland, about 40 km (25 mi) south-west of Olsztyn. Grunwald is famous as the site of two great battles. On July 15, 1410, the Poles and Lithuanians inflicted a decisive defeat on the Teutonic Knights, marking the beginning of the decline of that order (see Baltic Crusades). The site was also the scene of a great German victory over a Russian army on August 26-30, 1914, in the early days of World War I. At the beginning of the war, the Russians invaded the German province of East Prussia to divert the Germans from their offensive against France. Withdrawing most of the troops that had been opposing Russian forces north of the Mazurian Lakes, the German commanders Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff concentrated their main strength in an attack against General Aleksandr Samsonov in the Grunwald area. Samsonov was routed, and the invasion was stopped.