With the Russian First Army on the march again, the Germans planned to strike and stop its advance so they could turn their attention to the Russian Second Army approaching from the south. Francois convinced the army command to try a maneuver more fitting for a peacetime exercise than an actual battlefield. Falk's 2nd Infantry Division would make a night march behind the 1st Division to hit the Russians on their exposed right flank with a dawn attack.

Despite repeated halts for false reports of Russian activity, Falk somehow got his division into position by their 4 a.m. start time, only to halt for half an hour due to heavy fog. The troops went forward when the mists lifted, still screened by the last moments of nighttime darkness. They caught the Russians totally unprepared, with many of them still in their bedrolls. Yet the Russians recovered quickly and soon the Germans had a serious fight on their hands. By noon the town of Uszballen finally fell to them after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.