July 12, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
nearest point. It has very pronounced curves in its course, 
some c2 the loops leaving but a narrow^isthmus at their base. 
It is rapid, untordable, and crossed by permanent bridges at 
rare points, vvhile the only railway bridge in the whole 
district is the great bridge of Jezupol, which has been 
certainly destroyed long ago, even after its repair at the 
end of 1915: 
The country to the south of the Dniester differs considerably 
from that to the north. The ground is harder, upon the 
whole less thickly inhabited, and contains more obstacles upon 
the north of the river than it does upon' the south. The 
tributaries of the Dniester upon the north run, as a rule, 
through deep trenches separated by ridges of considerable 
height. They are often marshy in their course and tliey 
run in parallel lines one behind the other, forming a succession 
of obstacles. to any advance westward from the east. The 
tributaries on the right or south bank of the Dniester on the 
other hand, present less difhculty They are not marshy, 
but as a rule sandy. They are fordable save in the immediate 
neighbourhood of their mouths, all their upper courses being 
no more than the mountain torrents of the Carpathians, and 
the district as a whole is a fertile plain lying at the foot 
of the mountains and bounded by them on the one side 
and the Dniester upon the other. 
In the particular field of battle we are considering two such 
rivers run into the Dniester from the Carpathians, the 
Lomnitza, which joins the Dniester above Halicz, and the 
Black Bystrizyca, which passes in the immediate neighbour- 
hood of Stanislau and falls into the Dniester about a day's 
march below Hahcz, near the point of Jezupol. Between 
the two and parallel to each runs the smaller stream of the 
Lukwa, which falls into the Dniester at Halicz itself. 
The front from which the attack was made ran in front 
of Halicz (still in enemy hands) in front of Jezupol (also in 
enemy hands at the time), then covered Jamnica, which 
appears to have been in the hands of our Allies ; ran down 
covering Stanislau, which was also in their possession, and 
from that point reached the Black Bystrizyca, which from 
that point upwards was an obstacle defended by the Austrians. 
The morning of Sunday last, and perhaps the night between 
Saturday and Sunday, was filled at every point of this district 
from the Dniester southwards, say between the points 
•marked AandB on 'Map-II., with the intensi\'e bornbafrdment. 
of the artillery preparation — it is a sector of about ten miles. 
Upon the Sunday noon the artillery lengthened its range, and 
the infantry attack was launched by General Kornilotf, who 
commanded the troops engaged. Where the Austrian front 
\yas first broken we have as 3'et no indication to guide us, but 
f)robably somewhere near the point C on the northern end, 
for It was immediately in front of this, in the direction of the 
arrow, that the furthest advance of the Russian cavalry 
appears to have been made. They reached the Lukwa at 
Maidan, the point marked M on Map II. At any rate, it is 
clear that there was a complete rupture of the defensive 
organisation somewhere south of Jamnica, and not very far 
from that town, and almost certainly north of Stanislau. 
The rupture seems to have taken place fairly early in the 
afternoon if we are to judge by the opportunity our Allies 
found for reaping the fruits of their victory. Both sectors 
of the broken line were at the mercy of the successful assault : 
Jezupol was entered and the village of Ciezow behind it, 
and a detachment moved up on the right towards Halicz. 
The dii ect advance meanwhile passed and occupied the little 
hamlet of Pavelce lying in a ravine south of Ciezow, while 
further to the left the advance passed Rybno, and further yet 
crossed the Black Bystrzica and occupied Zagwozdz and 
Stary Lysiec. It was a complete- success clearly following 
upon the unexpected breakdown of some cejitral northern 
point in the defence. For the first time in a whole year of 
the war, the rupture was sufficient to permit of the use of 
cavalry, and the Russian mounted forces were able to follow 
the retreating remnant of the Austro-German force which had 
been defending these ten miles. 
There lies above the Bystrizcya valley, reaching to the 
parallel valley of the Lukwa, a rolhng country of forest hardly 
more than 150 feet above the water levels in its highest points. 
This forest is locally known as Czarny Las. It is cut by great 
parallel " tides," crossways not hardened but permitting of 
rapid movement by detachments of horse throughout its 
breadth. It runs in successive waves, as it were, the troughs 
of which are marked by streams running down to the Dniester. 
It was through this great wood that the remnant of the 
