8, 1915, the Germans reported continuous
progress in their attacks on Dvinsk. On the same day they broke
through the Russian front between Vilna and the Niemen in numerous
places, capturing over 5,000 men and 16 machine guns. Of railroad
lines available to facilitate an eventual Russian retreat from Vilna,
the northern route to Petrograd by way of Dvinsk had been in German
hands for some days. The southern route by way of Lida to Kovno was
imminently threatened at many points. The only other railroad on the
eventual line of retreat to the southeast by way of Minsk was likewise
threatened both from the south and north. Vilna taken, the Germans
immediately bent all their energies to the task of pursuing the
retreating Russians.

On September 18, 1915, Vilna fell into the hands of General von
Eichhorn's army. With it the Russians lost one of the most important
cities of their western provinces. Vilna is one of the oldest Russian
towns, its history dating back as far as 1128. It is the capital of a
government of the same name. In the Middle Ages it was the capital of
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but became a Russian possession as a
result of the partition of Poland in 1795. Of its population of more
than a quarter million almost one-half are Jews. Possessing an ancient
Roman Catholic cathedral, it is the seat of a bishop of that church,
as well as of a Greek archbishop.

On the same day on which Vilna's fall was reported, part of Von
Hindenburg's army, its left wing, was reported at Vornjany, Smorgon,
and Molodechno, all places east of Vilna, the last about eighty miles
on the Vilna-Minsk railway. In vain did the Russians try to pierce
this line, which, by the very nature of the advance, must have been
exceedingly thin. It not only held, but managed to force the Russians
to continue their retreat, and during this process captured large
numbers of them. General von Eichhorn's army, the actual conquerors of
Vilna, and Von Hindenburg's center reached Osmiana, thirty miles
southeast of Vilna, on September 20, 1915. The right wing, on the same
day, had pushed on to the east of Lida and to a point just west of
Novogrudok. By September 21, 1915, the crossing of the Gavia River, a
northern tributary of the Niemen, was forced north and south of
Subolniki, and on September 22, 1915, the Russian front extending from
Osmiana to Subolniki and Novogrudok was forced to retreat a one day's
march, ten miles, taking new positions on a lin