Deleted member 1487
Hmm I thought you were the one leaning towards still having the KuK Second Army make its wide swing (which took a while to implement while more efficient than Russian RR the Austrians are not as good as the Germans)
The best of best cases goes like this. When things come undone both Schiedemann's Second Army and Plehve's Fifth Army fall back towards Lodz. With a major German counterattack pinning him it is hard for Plehve to fall back rapidly. So there is a battle around Lodz between German Tenth and Russian Second Army (with Russian First Army probably with a new commander) trying to reenter the fray sort of like OTL. The German Tenth Army drives the Russians out of Lodz before Plehve arrives what you get is Fifth Army and what's left of Second Army and maybe even a corps of First Army crushed between between the two German armies near Piotrkow.
OK there is now a point that needs to be raised about Tannenberg. Most the prisoners who were taken by the Germans were captured by von Francois' I Army Corps who used unconventional tactics. Furthermore Samsonov went into a deep depression and did little to breakout. I do not see the same happening to von Plehve. So I expect the pocket to leak more than it did at Tannenberg. However if the Germans take most of the Russian artillery then 40,000 or so Russian soldiers low on supplies trying to reach Warsaw is a modest disappointment.
One thing to add is that exposure casualties on both sides are likely to be high.
Indeed they will be high. It would probably impact the Russians more, being so far from supply lines, but as to the overall strategic effects, would it resonate down the line so far as to force the Russians to abandon the siege of Przemysl? Also, given the difference in Russian and German gauge rail and the destruction of rail lines by the Germans in their pull back, would the German armies be able to take Lodz before the Russian could retreat? Also, would or could the Germans/Austrians use the captured Russian stocks of artillery provided they captured enough ammo/could manufacture it themselves?