The German attack from the direction of Praga, made General Radzjijevskij abundantly aware that the enemy still had the means to execute telling combat operations on his army’s left flank. Units from the 16th Tank Corps were transported from the area around Zakręt and withdrew to Wiązowna. Thereafter, the 3rd Tank Corps threw back the attack against Wołomin, as well as the attack against Radzymin, but was then forced to defend itself. General Vjedjenjejev reacted very quickly to the changed situation. He gave orders to, among other things, set about organizing an indirect defence; firing trenches must be dug for a number of tanks, anti-tank ambushes must be prepared making use of anti-tank guns, the corps’ artillery must be called in and reserve units created. With over 150 tanks and tracked artillery vehicles, the 3rd Tank Corps hardly represented an insignificant force. According to Soviet combat calculations, the 2nd Tank Army’s first echelon-corps would remain in a defensive posture until it established broad contact with 8th Tank Guards Corps and the 16th Tank Corps. At the same time, General Radzjijevskij reported to General Rokossovskij informing him about the increasingly strong German resistance in Praga’s outlying towns and requested additional heavy artillery units to break it down. Rokossovskij responded that he, General Radzjijevskij, should concentrate on cutting off the German 9th Army from its 2nd Army, and hand over the mission of seizing the city to the 47th Army which was en route as part of the second echelon. In theory, Radzjijevskij had command of forces capable of carrying out this order. However, between July 18 and July 30, 1944, the 2nd Tank Army suffered a total loss of 582 soldiers killed in action, 1,581 wounded and an additional 52 soldiers unaccounted for, along with the loss of approximately 130 tanks and tracked artillery guns. Still, given such a large fighting force, these losses were not all that serious — and the army had potential access to a further 560 to 680 armoured vehicles.
On July 31, just as additional units arrived from Division “Herman Goring,” the Germans increased their pressure on the 3rd Tank Army’s left flank. From the direction of Praga, attacks were mounted along the Marki — Radzymin motorway, as well as along the Zielonka — Wołomin railway line. The 19th Panzer-Division’s main combat force, in the meantime, approached Radzymin from the northeast. Despite the German XXXIX Panzer-Corps (now called: Gruppe “von Saucken”) having taken over the initiative, it was still numerically significantly weaker than the Soviet 2nd Tank Army and, in terms of frontline troops, it was even weaker than the 3rd Tank Corps. During the day, the last Pzkpfw IV from the II Fallschirm-Panzer-Regiment “Herman Göring” finally linked up with the troops already engaged in combat (the off-loading of the whole division was completed on August 4). Thanks to the above-cited unequal numerical strength and the competent defence put up by the Soviets, all German counter-attacks were beaten back with bloody results. General von Saucken was thus very impatiently awaiting the arrival of the two promised Waffen-SS-Divisions and the 4th Panzer-Division (which he had earlier commanded) to spearhead his attack. During the last day of July, the reinforced SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 “Germania” arrived, along with a portion of the 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf” in the area around Stanisławów — but Kampfgruppe “Westland” from the 5th SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” was still engaged in crossing over the Bug north of Węgrów. Nor was SS-Oberführer Becker’s unit in a position to engage in battle at full strength, since the 3rd SS-Panzer-Division “Totenkopf ” was still fighting in the Siedlce region. Despite this, after having received a report that a Kampfgruppe drawn from both forces would possibly begin to participate in the fighting the following day, he contacted the commander of the XXXIX Panzer-Corps, SS Gruppenführer Gille, for the purpose of coordinating all the divisions’ operations. General von Saucken also received a report to the effect that the 4th Panzer-Division forces were en route in the direction of Wyszlów. However, because of rain and the length of the division’s transport, they could not join the fighting for an additional 48 hours.
On July 31, south of Wołomin, the Soviet side continued to carry out attacks with tanks from the 60th and the 58th Tank Guards Brigades. The 8th Tank Guards Corps attacked Okuniew, which was captured during the evening hours. Their next objective was to capture the village of Ossów which was under siege on the outskirts of Wołomin. But this manoeuvre was checked by the stubborn defence mounted there by the grenadiers of the division “Herman Göring”. The terrain favoured the Germans. Despite the 3rd Tank Corps holding Wołomin, and the 60th Tank Brigade from the 8th Tank Guards Corps holding itself in wait the nearby village of Okuniew; the two areas remained separated due to the wet lands, forests and two streams, the Długa Struga and the Czarna Struga, between them. The 3rd Tank Corps, which was the first unit to attack, got around these natural obstacles by travelling in a wide arc towards the east near Stanisłwów. Now, with the nearest connection with Vjedjenjev’s corps having been blocked, General Popov decided to imitate this tactic. With the aim of broadening the wedge which the 8th Tank Guards Corps had created; he attacked Mińsk Mazowiecki together with Colonel Vasilj Bjelgakov’s, 260th Rifle Division which was en route from the south. After a short engagement, in which the 3rd Battalion out of the Home Army’s 22nd Regiment, also actively participated; the town fell into Soviet hands. The 16th Tank Corps also pressed on with their assault operations, driving the German 73rd Infantry-Division into the area around Radość.
At the same time this was taking place, the battle for Siedlce, east of Warsaw, neared its end: The city was captured by General Krjukov’s soldiers on July 30. Marshal Rokossovskij’s new orders, which were issued the very next day, meant that the crippled 11th Tank Corps was to move south to Puławay. The commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, in accord with the wishes of HQ, intended to support the 69th Army’s frontline troops at Wisła with this tank force. Other offensives towards the north, that is to say, on a direct line towards Poland’s capital city, were to be carried out by the 2nd Cavalry Guards Corps. This meant that the rapid response force was dissolved. New support for Krujkov’s cavalry troops would now be provided by the 70th Army. Following the seizure of Brest and the 2nd Army’s redeployment towards the west; General Vasilij Popov’s army, which included two rifle corps, lost contact with the enemy. At this time, Marshal Rokossovskij gave the order that after the regrouping had been carried out, they were to march in the direction of Kałuszyn and, from there, begin to participate in the storming of Praga together with the 47th Army. In addition, adjacent to the Bugs lower flow near Siemiatycz; the 28th Army, along with support troops from 1st Mechanised Corps and the 9th Tank Corps, began to prepare for an assault. These formations were to attack positioned on the right side of the 2nd Cavalry Guards Corps in the direction of Sokołow Podlaski and onward toward Wyszków.