In preceding chapters we have learned of the successful onslaught which the Russians made against the Austro-German lines during the months of June and July, 1916. Along the entire southern part of the eastern front--from the southern base of the Pinsk salient down to the Austro-Russo-Rumanian border--the troops of the Central Powers had been pushed back many miles. From June 4, 1916, to August 1, 1916, the Russians had regained some 15,000 square miles in Volhynia, Galicia, and the Bukowina. Lutsk, Dubno, and Czernowitz were some of the valuable prizes which had fallen into the hands of the czar's armies. At the beginning of August, 1916, they now threatened the important railway centers of Kovel and Lemberg, the latter the capital of Galicia. In defending the former the Austro-German armies had made a determined stand on the banks of the Stokhod River. This bit of water has its origin some ten miles west of Lutsk, from which point it winds its tortuous course for about one hundred miles in a northerly direction toward the Pripet River, of which it is a tributary. Its northern part flows through the Pripet Marshes. Its southern part, up to about the village of Trojanovka, forms a salient, with its apex on an almost straight line drawn between Kolki on the Styr and Kovel on the Turiya. This salient, as well as the part of the Stokhod between the southern base of the salient and its origin, formed a valuable and very formidable natural line of defense for Kovel against any attacks from the northeast, east, and southeast. Here the Austro-Germans had thrown up strong defensive works and were resisting with all their might. On August 1, 1916, the most furious kind of fighting took place in the Stokhod sector. By that time the Russian attack, begun a few days before, had made considerable progress, so that the Russians were at some points some few miles west of the river. Time and again the Russians heavily attacked the German-Austrian lines. In most places, however, the latter not only held, but were even strong enough to permit of repeated powerful counterattacks. This was especially true in the region of the bend of the Stokhod near the villages of Seletsie, Velitsk, and Kukhari. Very heavy fighting also developed at many points north of the Kovel-Sarni railway. Near the village of Smolary the Russians attacked three times, but were thrown back as often, and between Witoniez and Kiselin six Russian attacks followed each other in rapid succession, encountering the most stubborn resistance.