The Committee of the Northern Front of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union and the Organization of Assistance to the Military Personnel During the First World War

Abstract

With the outbreak of World War I on July 30, 1914, representatives of the zemstvos created one of the largest public organizations - the All-Russian Zemstvo Union for Assistance to Sick and Wounded Soldiers (ARZU). It, along with the government, was involved in helping the front. There were 39 departments in the Union system: evacuation of the wounded, medical and sanitary, donation collection, sanitary trains, linen and clothing, assistance to crippled soldiers, assistance to refugees, economic, supply, procurement, sanitary and technical, assistance to prisoners of war, etc. There were "frontline" committees of the ARZU on each front. This article examines the contribution of the Northern Front Committee to the cause of assistance to military personnel. The main activity of the Committee was the medical support of the wounded and sick soldiers and officers in hospitals and infirmaries, which made it possible to return 40-50% of all the wounded and 62% of all patients to service. Vaccination work and the activities of bacteriological laboratories made it possible to sharply reduce the incidence of infectious diseases in the Russian army, for example, typhoid fever from 16.7% in 1915 to 3.13% in 1916. The organization of dental offices became an innovation in the Russian troops. Sanitary-hygienic and economic-supply activities, carried out through the provision of bath-laundry and shoe-repair services, the work of nutrition points, tea and camp shops, significantly improved the conditions for soldiers and officers at the front.