While Falk's 2nd Division made its looping maneuver to strike the Russian flank, Conta's 1st Division had the task of pinning the Russians in place with a frontal assault. Unusually for the first weeks of the Great War, the Russian 28th Division had taken care to prepare for the German attack. To encourage the men to advance against the fortified Russian line, Conta ordered his regiments forward with the flags uncased and bands playing.

The Russian division put up stout resistance, but the Germans pressed forward despite heavy casualties (particularly among their officers). When the village of Brakuponen fell the fight went out of the Russians and 28th Division began to fall apart. leaving 5,000 prisoners behind. When the German infantry began its pursuit, their artillery took a hand, blasting their comrades with the most accurate barrage of the campaign to date. Broken by their own artillery, the German division fled the field as well.