The monument stood at the top of a hill at the place called Balaclava and looked out over the city and beyond it to the sea from where invaders had always come until Hitler attacked Sevastopol from the land. To the left, the mouth of the Kerch Straits was at its widest before the straits entered and split the land like an axe, and separated Ukraine from Russia. To the right, the mountains descended towards the Crimean steppe as the coast turned to the the north. Anna looked down at Sevastopol’s perfect harbour. There was one long bay called Sevastopolskaya Bukhta, and then five or six perfect bays for anchorage off the main bay. In the main dockyard below her, she saw a train, loaded with submarine batteries, Balthasar had said. At the end of the dock where the train stood, the Russian aircraft carrier Moskva was moored broadside against the quay. It was a hot day, the air completely still up here, and there were few people who were willing to climb up the ninety-five steps to the monument.
