THE COSSACKS' SONG OF VICTORY Brussiloff ' s Advances 1916 The Petrograd official communiqu?of June 27, 1916, stated that the prisoners and trophies captured by the armies of General Brusiloff between June 4-23 amounted to 4,031 officers, 194,041 men, 219 guns, besides 644 machine-guns, 196 bomb mortars, 146 artillery ammunition wagons and 38 searchlights. The enormous importance of the Russian victories of June, 1916, as a step in the attrition of the enemy forces was patent; the losses suffered by the enemy on the Eastern front during those three weeks were about equal to those he had suffered at Verdun in 130 days of fighting. Times History of the War.