The lack of railways and logistical problems meant they made slow progress even though they faced only a single German army corps.

According to Prit Buttar, "as the magnitude of the disaster that had befallen Samsonov's army became clear, Rennenkampf ordered his men to pull back from their most advanced positions.

First Army took up a line running from the Deime valley in the north, through Wehlau and Nordenberg, to the northern shore of the Mauer-See, immediately to the west of Angerburg."

The Russian 3rd Army Corps repulsed all German attacks at Levenhagen and was preparing for pursuit by the forces of the 1st Guards Cavalry Division.

Having lost 5 officers and 15 soldiers, Gurko was able to knock the Germans out of position, but could not withstand the counterattack of the cavalry brigade and retreated in battle to Krolikheim.

The 43rd infantry division and the 3rd Finnish rifle brigade retreated under the onslaught of the Germans from Aris[34] The commander of the Russian 22nd Corps, A. von Brinken, considered it necessary to withdraw troops to the defensive line.

Von Brinken objected: the continuation of the battle would lead to a complete loss of combat capability, and no assistance would be provided.

He proposed to withdraw the vanguards of the army to Augustow, concentrate there, arrange the rear and organize supplies, and then go on the offensive with a single fist.

On September 9, the Guards Reserve Corps of Artillery General M. von Gallwitz went on the offensive against the center of the 1st Russian Army near Allenburg.

With great difficulty, with the support of the Landwehr from the fortress of Posen (division of Lieutenant General Anatol Graf von Bredow), they managed to gain a foothold at Redden and Schillen.

The distracting group of Morgen wedged into the location of the Russian troops and created a threat of encirclement in front of the rivers Instruch and Angerapp.

By the evening of September 9, a grouping of troops was assembled to launch a counterattack on the flank of the corps of Hermann von François and Morgen.

At the same time, during the day, the Guards Reserve Corps was able to build 5 bridges on the Alle River on both sides of Allenburg; to parry a possible Russian counterattack (and German reconnaissance established the arrival of two divisions), Bredow's landwehr division was advanced to the threatened direction, and to the south of Tapiau, a detachment of K. Wolgemut from the garrison of Koenigsberg (5 battalions and 2 squadrons with strong artillery).

But in the 2nd Army Corps, the Germans occupied Widminnen, went to Lake Gablick, where they were stopped by the 1st Cavalry Division entering the battle.

At the same time, P. Rennenkampf also counted on a powerful blow with three corps in the direction of Melauken, Wirbeln, Norkitten, Nordenburg—in the center and northern flank of the Germans.

On September 10, the shock group of the 1st Army launched an offensive from the Gołdap area, but was met by hurricane artillery and machine-gun fire, first at the attacking chains, and then at the Russian positions.

Four brigades of the corps, united in the detachments of Stelnitsky and Lieutenant General Vladimir von Notbek, retreated to Kallinowen and Lake Skomenten.

Considering the growing threat of covering the left flank of the army, Rennenkampf ordered on the night of September 11 to begin a withdrawal.

The 3rd Siberian Army Corps persistently attacked Lyck until the morning of September 12, and although the city was never taken, the German command attracted the landwehr division of R. von der Goltz from the Narew direction to defend it.

[42] On September 11, the commander-in-chief of the armies of the North-Western Front, Y. Zhilinsky, ordered P. von Rennenkampf to withdraw troops to the Neman line.

In previous battles, the Germans managed to create a threat of encirclement of the left flank with a blow from the Romincka Forest to the north—with cutting off the mass of P. von Rennenkampf's troops on the Angerapp River.

At the first news of the retreat of the army on September 12, the civil administration abandoned their posts and fled, cutting telegraph and telephone lines.

The 270th Gatchina Infantry Regiment was surrounded and, while trying to break through, lost its commander (Colonel A. Volkov was captured), almost all the officers and 3,000 soldiers.

An attempt to stop the Germans at Mariampol by the forces of the Russian 4th Army Corps failed: he retreated, losing 52 killed, 163 wounded, 83 missing.

P. von Hindenburg and E. Ludendorff decided to repeat the encirclement operation, organizing a powerful strike at the junction of the 1st and 10th Russian armies with access to the rear of the 1st.

The firmness of the defense on the Angerapp River made it possible to fend off the maneuver of the German cavalry and prevent it from destroying the headquarters and rear of the army.

The victims of the Russian troops were 19,000 civilians, of which 1,620 died (including those who were shot without trial), 433 were wounded and 10,000 were driven to Russia (5,419 men, mainly the elderly, 2,587 women and 2,719 children).

Agricultural machinery and implements, machine tools, personal items, clothes, underwear and footwear (including women's and children's), furniture, sanitary ware (bathtubs, toilet bowls), watches, cutlery were subject to confiscation.

Union of German Societies for Post-War Aid to Destroyed East Prussian Cities and Towns, which collected millions in donations.

[29] The German advantage was bought at a cost: the newly arrived corps had been sent from the Western front and their absence would be felt in the upcoming Battle of the Marne.