MINSK FALLS
Vilna Is Tottering
RUSSIANS DEAL SMASHING BLOWS TO
POLES—MIGHTY FORT CAPITULATES
—STRONGHOLD TO NORTHWEST IN
IMMINENT DANGER.
LONDON, July 13.—Minsk has been captured by
Russian bolshevik forces, according to an official
statement received here from Moscow, which says the
soviet troops occupied the town on the morning of
July 11. The communique also announces the capture of the town of Sventsiany, 95 miles south of
Dvinsk and 50 miles northeast of Vilna.
TRAINS CAPTURED.
The statement continues:
In the direction of Uschitza we captured a section of the railway
from Gukhevitch station to Bobrovka station. In the Rovno region our cavalry, pursuing the enemy occupied Olyka village. In
the direction of Tarnopol we occupied the station of Charay-Hostroff (50 miles east of Tarnopol), capturing an armored train."
Minsk is situated on a branch of the Beresina river, approximately 250 miles northeast of Warsaw. For some time the Russian soviet forces have been converging on Minsk from the north
and south. The fall of Minsk would seem to indicate that Vilna,
about 110 miles to the northwest, is in imminent danger of capture.