Battle of Stallupönen

The Battle of Stallupönen, fought between Russian and German armies on August 17, 1914, was the opening battle of World War I on the Eastern Front. The Germans under the command of Hermann von François conducted a successful counterattack against four Russian infantry divisions from different infantry corps, which heavily outnumbered them but had poor coordination with each other and created a gap between the 27th Infantry Division and the 40th Infantry Division. It was a minor German success, but did little to upset the Russian timetable.