Southwest of St. Petersburg, Pskov, High Command of the Russian Army.

Tsar Nicholas II sat a little nervously in front of his new Chief of the General Staff, General Alekseev, and for a moment did not know what to say.

Just three days ago, the former Supreme Commander of the Russian Army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, and Gilinsky were simultaneously dismissed, and the tsar announced that he would personally assume the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief and appoint Alekseev, the former commander of the North-Western Front, as Chief of the General Staff.

Today is the first working day after the arrival of the Tsar at the High Command, and it is evident that the unfamiliar emperor has not yet adapted to this job, which is contrary to his gloomy and numb personality—perhaps not for the rest of his life.

"Your Majesty?" Alekseev cautiously reminded, "Is it time to start?" ”

Only then did Nicholas II suddenly nod and said, "Oh, you say, you say." ”

"It's bad, but it's not the worst......," Alekseev said slowly, looking up at the Tsar, speculating over his master's reaction.

"Go on." Nicholas II maintained the same cold expression on which he listened to state affairs - not so much calm as at a loss.

"Last month we abandoned Warsaw, and then the High Command reorganized the armies on the German-Austrian front into three fronts, hoping that each front would cover one direction, the Northern Front covering Petersburg, the Western Front covering Moscow, and the Southwestern Front covering Ukraine......"

"Look here......" Alekseev got up and walked to the map board.

"The task of the Northern Front was to hold the Riga-Dvinsk-Vilno line and prevent the enemy from rushing out of Lithuania and approaching Petersburg. The task of the Western Front was to hold the line of Vilno-Bialystok-Brest and prevent the enemy from attacking Moss through Belarus.; The task of the army was to secure Brest-Kovel up to the Romanian border