Tannenberg
rather alarming discovery was a number of supply columns hurriedly retreating through Lobau.
A general has much to bear and needs strong nerves, • The civilian is too inclined to think that war is only like the working out of an arithmetical problem with given numbers, It is anything but that. On both sides it is a case of wrestling with powerful, unknown physical and psychological forces, a struggle which inferiority in numbers makes all the more difficult. It means working with men of varying force of character and with their own views. The only quantity that is known and constant is the will of the leader.
All those who criticize the dispositions of a general ought first to study military history, unless they have themselves taken part in a war in a position of command. I should like to see such people compelled to conduct a battle themselves. They would be overwhelmed by the greatness of their task, and when they realized the obscurity of the position, and the exacting nature of the enormous demands made on them, they would doubtless be more modest. Only the Head of the Government, the Statesman who has decided for war, and that with a clear conscience, shoulders the same or a bigger burden of responsibility than that of the Commander-in-Chief. In his case it is a question of one great decision only, but the Commander of an army is faced with decisions daily and hourly. He is continuously responsible for the welfare of many hundred-thousands of persons, even of nations. For a soldier there is nothing greater, but at the same time more overwhelming, than to find himself at the head of an army or the entire field army of his country.
Late at night we received news in Lobau that the ist R.C, had reached Wartenburg. The Russian 6th Corps was in full retreat before the I7th Army Corps beyond Ortelsburg and was again defeated south of Bischofsburg. Smaller forces were sent in pursuit, while the main body of the ifth A.C. bivouacked at and to the north of Mensguth, on the evening of the 27th.
Nothing remained to be done on the 28th but to give orders for the ist A.C. to occupy Neidenburg. In the meantime, the Corps had already made a turning movement in that direction,
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