Maximilian "Max" Wilhelm Gustav Moritz von Prittwitz und Gaffron (27 November 1848 – 29 March 1917) was an Imperial German general.

On 2 August 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, Prittwitz was appointed commander of the Eighth Army and assigned to defend East Prussia from an expected Russian attack.

[2] When the unexpectedly swift Russian invasion gained early success in the Battle of Gumbinnen (20 August 1914) and threatened his rear, Prittwitz suggested a retreat to the west of the Vistula.

On 23 August 1914 Moltke the Younger promptly appointed Paul von Hindenburg to replace Prittwitz as Eighth Army commander.

[3] Hindenburg, along with Erich Ludendorff as replacement for Chief of Staff Georg von Waldersee, then successively destroyed the two invading Russian armies at the Battles of Tannenberg (23–30 August 1914) and the Masurian Lakes (2–16 September 1914).