Romanian soldiers guard the six hundred and…

Romanian soldiers guard the six hundred and fifty-kilometer Danube River boundary and engage in artillery duels with Ottoman gunners during the summer of 1877 until Russian armies can arrive and cross the river to confront Ottoman forces.

In the opening weeks of the Russo-Turkish War, the Russians achieve some successes.

On the Bulgarian front, they cross the Danube in June 1877, and a flying column under the Russian general Iosif V. Gurko surprises a Turkish force of four thousand men to seize the strategically important Shipka Pass through the Balkan Mountains on July 19, at which point the Russian plans receive a setback.