Gnila Lipa 1915, 23 June 1915

Gospodin General-Leitenant, as the South-Western Front retreated before a determined Germano-Austrian offensive, General Brusilov's 8th Army (XII, VIII, XVII, VII) on the left flank of the front found itself in a precarious position:  with the majority of forces still engaged in the Carpathian Mountain passes, the army needed much more time to withdraw.  Risking envelopment from the north, the 8th Army executed a fighting retreat to the pre-war Galician border.

The Austrian 2nd Army (von Bohm-Ermolli) resolved to envelop the Russian 8th Army from the south, hoping to break through at Gnila Lipa with two corps (XVIII and XIX) and to link up with the bulk of the army (IV, V) at Tarnopol.  Overstrengthening Trollmann's XIX corps with massive artillery, the Austrians maneuvered to outflank Brusilov.

You must hold our position on the Gnila Lipa River and prevent an Austrian advance here long enough for the bulk of the 8th Army to disengage from the Carpathians.
