Show TOP iw AGAN AGA SET ES GERMANS HAVE SUCCEEDED IN ALMOST ENTIRELY surrounding PART OF RUSSIAN ARMY vilna is taken by german forces and russians must fight their way out eastward or retire in a southeasterly direction the alie germans have occupied vilna recording according to advices advises reaching low lon dona and by a p wide sweeping move dent to the north of that city have succeeded in almost entirely surrounding a portion of the russian army allic which ii is fighting in the railway tri angl angle e between vilna lida and vil elka at any rate the russian forr forces es in this district either cither must fight their yay way out eastward or retire in a southeasterly direction for the only railway left entirely in their hands Is that which runs from vilna to lida find and thence to the army of field marshal arshal Bl von hin denburg which took vilna and lia has reached vilella Vl Vil leika elka to the east of vilna is working in close operation cooperation co ditl 1 that of archduke leopold of bavaria in an effort to catch a part of the russian army an operation which lias has been so often tried without success since the austro germans commenced their drive in western galicia in early may the russians express confidence in the outcome of the battle but with their northern armies held closely along the avina and the german flank well protected by their cavalry which recently occupied bidsy across the vilna petrograd railway it seems impossible that any aid can come to them from that thai direction the situation in the balkans and at the dardanelles Darda nelles lias has reached a crisis czar ferdinand of bulgaria and the king of roumania are reported to be holding a conference at a place on the danube the location of which is kept dept secret it is believed that this conference will decide the action ot of lap balkan powers the chief interest lies in the fact that the action of the balkan league will decide the all important dardanelles Darda nelles campaign both the germans and the french claim minor victories on the western front but neither there in the italian theatre nor in the dardanelles Darda nelles have bave any events of great moment been reported recently |