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I saw this on another forum some time ago and found the idea interesting but the discussion there did move away from the original idea and left it mostly unanswered, so I thought about putting it up here.

What if Prittwitz had kept his subordinates on a short leash and kept concentrating his forces? The battle of Stalluponen does not happen and the Russians are allowed to take Gumbinnen before meeting the German line on the Angerapp.
Once engaged Francois's I corp moves around the north of the Tzullkinner forest, attacking the flank of the Russian 1st army. The delay would also allow the 3rd reserve division, which arrived too late to fight historically, time to arrive, where, reinforced by some Landwehr units, it could attack the Russian southern flank.

This is not supposed to be a Tannenberg or Masurien lake style victory for the Germans but rather to force Rennenkampf's army to fall back a bit or retreat. Or at the very least to deal them a blow. Then the Germans focus on the Russian 2nd army like in OTL. Something like Tannenberg should still be possible. After that Prittwitz can again focus on the Russian 1st army. He would be lacking the forces to really do anything in support of Austria-Hungary so AH might stay on the defensive and not do some desasterous attacks.

So, can this actually work for the Germans or are they off worse than in OTL?
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