On August 8, the Germans intensified their bombardment, but the fortress garrison withstood several attempts to breach the defensive perimeter.

The commander of the Russian 10th Army, E. Radkevich, at noon on August 16, asked Mikhail Alekseyev: how should one regard the Kaunas fortress transferred to his subordination: whether to allow it to be completely surrounded by the Germans, whether to defend the northern forts, despite the loss of the fortifications of the forts of the First Department, or start evacuating the garrison, weapons and military supplies, as this must be done in a timely manner.

On the morning of August 17, Alekseyev allowed the use of his reserve for the defense of Kaunas - the 4th Finnish Rifle and 65th Infantry Divisions.

From 11 o'clock K. Litzman began shelling the forts of the 1st Defense Department with 208 guns, including 80 heavy and 10 super-heavy howitzers and mortars; fire was corrected from airplanes and balloons.

Radkevich reported this to the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the North-Western Front Alekseyev at 9 o'clock:The garrison abandoned Kaunas and is running in complete disarray.

The remnants of the garrison are a disorderly crowd, and according to the commandant, their moral state excludes the possibility of not only going on the offensive, but even holding any position.K.

Litzman, in turn, ordered the bombardment of the center of Kaunas, the citadel and the station, the forts in the northern sector of defense, against which the 3rd reserve division and B. von Ezebek's brigade should be sent to attack.

The garrison of Kaunas held Rumšiškės and Žiežmariai, the detachment of Lieutenant General V. Alftan (65th Infantry Division and militia) continued to defend Fort V. Radkevich still hoped to return Kaunas and ordered the corps of V. Tofimov and N. Lopushansky to push back the Germans beyond the Neman River, to organize the evacuation of the fortress.

The task of recapturing the 3rd and 4th defense departments from the Germans and then defending them "to the last extreme" after midnight on August 18 was also confirmed by Alekseyev.

[13] However, overnight in the Kaunas area, under the onslaught of the Germans, the 40th and 54th Don Cossack regiments retreated, N. Lopushansky's detachment was also thrown back.

[6] Grigoriev was arrested by Russian authorities, tried, and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for failure to properly perform his duties.