Thanks to the fierce rearguard action south of Allenstein, XIII Corps pulled away to the south in hopes of joining intact Russian formations still fighting the Germans. But reports came that the Germans were already across their retreat route. While that wasn't quite true, the Germans were very close. The Russians would have to turn and fight again.

German troops of all three classes - regular, reservist and Landwehr - raced in pursuit of the defeated Russians, commandeering civilian transport to get to the battlefield that much faster. Russian XIII Corps command expected to have to fight their way through Hohenstein to join XV Corps, but managed to get there ahead of the Germans. With the enemy now close behind, the Russians put up furious resistance and German casualties piled up. The situation seemed well in hand until a battalion of hvy howitzers from the Konigsberg garrison arrived along with the divisional artillery of two German divisions. The heaviest barrage of the war in the East to date broke the Russian lines, and the formerly organized retreat became a rout.