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 line: Soli (on the Vilna-Minsk railroad)-Olshany-Traby-Ivie to a point slightly northeast of Novogrudok. A German attempt to outflank the retreating Russians from the north, made on September 23, 1915, at Vileika on the Vilia, about ten miles north of the railway junction at Molodechno, failed. During the next day the Germans again forced back the Russian front eastward for about ten miles, or a one day's march. Along this new front--Smorgon-Krevo-Vishneff-Sabresina-Mikolaieff, just southeast of which latter place the historical Beresina joins the Niemen--the Russians made a firm stand during the rest of September, 1915.