Vilna Military District

In the Russian Empire, military districts were first formed by Dmitry Milyutin in 1862–64 to replace the pre-existing Military Inspectorates. The military districts were organised to include civilian administration regions of gubernyas and uyezds. The Vilna Military District was created on 6 July 1862. The district headquarters were in Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania), On 17 July 1914, just before the beginning of the First World War, martial law was imposed in the district. After the outbreak of the war later that month, the district headquarters became the headquarters of the new Dvinsk Military District. Combat units stationed in the district at the time became part of the new 1st Army, under the command of district commander Paul von Rennenkampf. == Area covered ==

The Vilna Military District comprised the following gubernyas: • Vilna • Grodno • Kovno • Courland • Livonia (excluding the Pernov, Fellinskiy, Valkskiy and Verrosskiy uyezds) • Vitebsk • Mogilev • Minsk • Suwałki (excluding Shchuchinsk uyezd) == Military units ==

The following units were based in the Vilna Military District upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914: • 2nd Army Corps • 26th Infantry Division • 43rd Infantry Division • 2nd Cavalry Division • 3rd Army Corps • 25th Infantry Division • 27th Infantry Division • 3rd Cavalry Division • 4th Army Corps • 30th Infantry Division • 40th Infantry Division • 20th Army Corps • 28th Infantry Division • 29th Infantry Division == Commanders ==

The district was commanded by the following officers: • General of infantry Alexander Gurchin (19011902) • General of infantry Oskar Grippenberg (10 November 1902 11 September 1904) • General of infantry Alexander Freze (12 October 1904 19 December 1905) • Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 1906) Konstantin Krzhivitsky (19051909) • Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 1910) Sergei Gershelman (17 March 1909 17 November 1910, died of illness) • Lieutenant General (Promoted to General of infantry 6 December 1910) Fyodor Martson (23 November 1910 17 January 1913) • General of cavalry and Adjutant General Paul von Rennenkampff (20 January 1913 19 July 1914) == Commanders of the Dvinsk Military District ==

• General of Infantry Alexei Evgrafovich Churin (19 July - 30 August 1914) • Engineer-general Prince Nikolai Evseevich Tumanov (30 August 1914 - 14 September 1915) • Infantry General Dmitry Petrovich Zuyev (16 September 1915 - 25 April 1917) == References ==