ABSTRACT
The Ostheer in this staff ride faced the entire Russian army without the assistance of Austro-Hungarian forces.1 The four original army corps of the Ostheer were quickly reinforced by three additional army corps. By the 30th mobilization day, the Germans could muster seven army corps, eight reserve divisions and four cavalry divisions. However, this German force faced 12 Russian army corps, four rifle brigades, ten reserve divisions and 14 cavalry divisions advancing in four armies from Congress Poland and northern Russia. On the German side, the forces used here were roughly equal to those assigned to the east in the deployment plan (variant II) for 1899/1900. For the first time in this mobilization year, the Germans developed two deployment plans, one that called for the entire German army to be deployed against France and another that would have deployed two-thirds of the army against France and the remainder against Russia. In this second plan, seven army corps, two reserve corps, four reserve divisions and five cavalry divisions were due to be deployed along the Russo-German border.2
