On the evening of August 23, at the temporary command headquarters of the Russian 1st Army Corps.
Although they had been fleeing for their lives for two days, they still had not escaped the Masurian Lakes region. The German 17th Corps was relentlessly pursuing them, and they had no idea when their pursuers would catch up. This left the officers and soldiers of the Russian 12th Army Corps trembling with fear as they fled.
"General, the 14th Infantry Division has been routed by the Germans. Most of the soldiers have already been captured, and only a very small number escaped back. The German pursuers are now less than thirty kilometers away from us," a staff officer reported to General Leiningen-Kempf.
"Damn it! Is this the Germans' true combat strength? No wonder the 2nd Army Corps was defeated so miserably. The Germans were actually this powerful. We were like fools, so easily deceived by them. They carefully laid out a trap, and we stupidly jumped right into it." General Leiningen-Kempf's face was full of remorse.
Unfortunately, it was already too late to say any of this. Who had told them to let victory go to their heads before? Thinking back carefully, the Germans' combat performance at the time had been so poor that it should have aroused suspicion. But these Russian generals had believed it was a fine opportunity to seize East Prussia and capture the German Crown Prince alive. In the end, they had trapped themselves instead. If things went badly, their entire army might be wiped out here. If there had been a medicine for regret, General Leiningen-Kempf believed that he and General Ivan Gylinski would both have been willing to spend everything they possessed to buy one pill. But unfortunately, there was no such thing.
"Order the 15th