However, it gradually changed into an offensive of two German armies to capture the Kovno fortress and reach the Western Dvina.

The result of intense disputes was a compromise decision on the distracting nature of the new offensive on the Neman and in Courland, which was more in line with both the more complex natural environment (the area abounded in rivers, forests and swamps), and the importance attached by the Russian command to Riga and the Western Dvina River.

The first received the task of advancing to the highway from Schaulen to Mitava and through Goldingen to Tukun: the second went on the offensive a few days later, linking the Russian troops along the front.

Russian troops outnumbered the Germans in manpower and were inferior in artillery (superior in heavy) and, possibly, in machine guns.

The next day, Hindenburg managed to convince Falkenhayn of the importance and possibility of a quick capture of Kovno; the Supreme High Command allocated the required number of shells for the operation.

To counter the German offensive on Riga, on August 3, P. Plehve entrusted the defense of the Riga fortified area to Lieutenant General N. Lisovsky, subordinating the 7th Siberian Army Corps to him, and ordered Lieutenant General G. Troubetzkoy to strike at the flank and rear of the Mitava's group.

The offensive of the Army of the Niemen intended to strike at Wilkomir, concentrating three infantry divisions near Panevėžys, but it was necessary to replenish troops and ammunition.

Therefore, he considered the creation of intermediate strongholds unsuitable for the situation and urged that all forces and means be urgently sent to build fortifications in front of Dvinsk.

[9] On the afternoon of August 12, in the Riga region, the 13th Siberian Rifle Division launched an offensive towards the Aa River and knocked out the Germans from the right bank.

However, the blow did not work, the German 1st reserve and 1st cavalry corps continued to push the Russian units, which retreated by the morning of August 15 across the Vadva and Jara-Šetekšna rivers.

[13] The stubborn battles with varying success that accompanied the offensive of the Russian 5th Army did not bring Plehve the expected results, but the Riga-Dvina direction was reliably covered, the offensive against Vilkomir, which was being prepared by the Germans, was thwarted, and the divisions ready to be sent against Kovno were detained to hold the positions of the Neman army.

[14] Since mid-August, the staff of Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East, considered the idea of developing an offensive in the Neman region - by breaking through to Vilno and Minsk, which would intercept the withdrawal routes of the armies of the Russian North-Western Front from the Kingdom of Poland.

Falkenhayn was against such a plan, considering it impossible either to continue the offensive in winter or to invade deep into Russia: operations in the East were not supposed, as emphasized in the order of August 18, to go further than the line from Brest-Litovsk to Grodno, and "surplus" troops were to be transferred to other theaters.

Hindenburg disagreed with this vision of military planning: in the area of Augustow and Suwalki, the front passed too close to the German border.

Litzman's group (115th infantry, 3rd, 76th and 79th reserve divisions) crossed the Neris River and attacked the remnants of the Kovno garrison.

On August 21, Radkevich ordered to prevent the Germans from entering the interfluve of the Neman and Neris rivers and to launch a counterattack with the right wing of the army.

However, on August 21, the retreat of the right wing of the Russian 10th Army continued: the onslaught of the 6th Cavalry and 40th Reserve Corps of the Germans did not weaken.

[25] On August 28, Plehve again persistently ordered Trubetskoy, leaving a small barrier, "with the rest of the forces to break through at all costs into the rear of the enemy advancing towards Friedrichstadt."

But the defense of the German Army of the Niemen was precisely built on the maximum use of the terrain and villages as base lines and points.

On August 28–29, von Schmettov's group was pushed back on the left flank to the Nemenek River, but broke through the second line of defense near Friedrichstadt.

[29] The timely transfer and introduction of eight Russian divisions into battle north of Vilno frustrated Hindenburg's hopes for a quick (after the fall of Kovno) capture of this city, which was a major junction of railways and highways.

But in August, the Russian troops managed, actively defending themselves, to prevent the enemy from reaching the right bank of the Western Dvina and Vilna.

At the same time, major Russian failures in operations in this direction were the loss of control over the western part of the Gulf of Riga, the coast of Courland, the capture by the German troops of the Kovno fortress with its artillery and supplies.