Built in the 1840s to command the land route between East Prussia and Russia, Fort Boyen was typical red-brick, crenelated structure common to the period. By 1914 it was hopelessly outdated, but it boasted a full battalion of machine- gunners as a garrison at a time when the weapons were fairly rare in the front lines. The outpost blocked easy communications between the Russian First and Second Armies, and with Second Army running into trouble the Russian General Staff ordered First Army to remove this problem as quickly as possible.

The Russians flung a few shells at Fort Boyen, but the volume of fire from its walls appears to have intimidated them and rather than order a direct assault - as his orders required - the commander of the 170th Molodechno Infantry Regiment instead sent a staff officer and trumpeter to demand the garrison's surrender within four hours. The Germans showed their respect by opening fire on the party, wounding two of them. The Russians had threatened to destroy the fort and exterminate the garrison, but instead withdrew without further violence.