Vinnytsia, on the banks of the Southern Bug River.
The Southern Bug River was one of Ukraine's major rivers. It rose in the Podolian Hills and flowed southwest into the Black Sea.
The lands along both banks of the Southern Bug River, on the plains of Western Ukraine, had once been fertile and rich. But with the outbreak of the Great War, they finally became the front line between Russia and the Central Powers in July 1916.
Following the defeat in June, the Central Powers army entered Russian territory, and the situation on the Russian Army's southern front took a sharp turn for the worse. They had no choice but to withdraw their forces to the eastern bank of the Southern Bug River to regroup.
Vinnytsia became the new General Headquarters of the Russian Army's southern forces. Nearly a hundred thousand soldiers routed from the front had now gathered in the city.
The outskirts of Vinnytsia were already encircled by barbed wire and trenches. These hastily built defensive works were clearly rough, but with the Southern Bug River at their backs, the Russian generals were confident they could fight with their backs to the river.
Of course, compared to the Russian generals, the Russian "grey livestock" army was already buckling under the strain.
In the camp southwest of the Southern Bug River, gloom hung heavy in the air. The place lay beside the river at a salient, so the Russians had deployed large numbers of troops here to establish a new position.
Karltichev was listlessly wiping down the Mosin-Nagant rifle in his hands, a polished brown wooden pipe clenched between his teeth.
Beside him was Roavsky, a fellow villager. Roavsky lay atop a wooden crate with a stalk of grass in his mouth, chewing vacantly.
A strip of grey gauze