"The sturgeon canned food was great." Frontline life of the Russian warrior of the First World War in photos
In addition to photos from the editions of the war years, we used the memories of officers and soldiers of the Russian army, published on the pages of various periodicals (Military profit, Military affairs, etc.).
Dugout (letter from the motherland).
If you describe the food and salary of a soldier, then, as the front-line soldier noted, 3 pounds of rye bread were given out daily, as well as tea, sugar, tobacco, and soap. Each company had a field camp kitchen and a kettle. They were managed by a “cook” - as the fighters called a company cook. Daily in the morning and in the evening tea was given to the soldiers. Lunch - every day, meat, with a portion of meat, and soup or soup cooked from different cereals.
Fighters at lunch.
After the February Revolution, the supply initially deteriorated sharply - and the soup was cooked, filling with pearl barley, herring, and lentils, called shrapnel. For dinner, the second was buckwheat or millet porridge on beef or mutton fat. In Romania, in the winter on the 1917 year, rice porridge was often served the second.
General view of the bakery.
Acceptance of bread.
Loading flour on the narrow gauge railway.
The soldiers, as a contemporary wrote, were always well-fed, and, thanks to the soldiers' bench (they sold shag, cigarettes, soap, envelopes and writing paper, needles, threads, etc. household change) and regularly received gifts, nothing “needs not tested. " 75-kopecks salary was enough to buy all these little things.
Cabbage was souring for the winter, cucumbers were salted. Year-round boiled kvass, also served to the soldier’s table. Bread was baked at the regimental bakeries, and the shelves competed in the championship for well-baked and tasty bread.
Marching bakery for baking white bread.
By the way, in the field conditions, the soldier's knapsack, among other things, contained: a mug, a spoon, tea, sugar, bread and a NZ - “emergency reserve” (cans of canned goods and a bag of biscuits). When 1916 was allowed to eat this NZ in the spring, as the officer who learned his taste noted, “white flour biscuits were very tasty, and sturgeon canned food (whole piece) was simply gorgeous”.
The officers ’supply was provided by the“ officers ’assembly”. The officers chose the “host of the assembly,” who was in charge of the officers' shop. The kitchen of the officer’s meeting was headed by an artel, a non-commissioned officer. The kitchen was served by a qualified chef with an assistant. There was a field kitchen and household-carts. The cost of food was about 30 rubles per month. Part of the products was purchased for cash in the household parts, and some - from the local population. The cook carried an oven and a cast-iron stove with him — folding tiles at each new place (he cooked dinner on the stove and roasted the dish in the oven). Food was delivered to the position by the officer’s officers (each officer had his own canteen). When a part was in reserve or on vacation, they organized a special dining room or built a shed with shops and tables dug into the ground, or a hut was fitted for these purposes. The officers sat at the table only after the regiment commander arrived and, with the permission of the latter, proceeded to dinner.
Camp Kitchen.
Cutting portions.
As the shooter noted, the officer’s salary — the basic salary — was preserved until the October Revolution at the same rate as Peter I had set out in the “Table of Ranks”. The ensign, for example, received 50 rubles per month plus 10 rubles per month surcharges. Persons who were in the Army, relied (the amount differed depending on the position) so-called. “Field portion money” - for example, the company commander received up to 200 rubles a month (a significant amount for those times). There was almost nothing to spend on the front. As a result, the majority of officers, and such were, in the bulk, the sons of the laboring intelligentsia, unmarried young people, sent the excess money to their relatives.
Distribution of salaries to officers.
Waited for soldiers and gifts from individuals, organizations and the state.
The regiment’s economy was controlled by the assistant commander for economic affairs. It included: a non-combatant company (its commander was also the head of the convoy of the 1st and 2nd categories), portioned cattle herds and workshops: boot, sewing and armoryas well as a soldier's shop. The regimental treasurer and clerk with the staff of clerks were also at the economic part.
Armory workshop.
Polkovoy okolotok: senior and junior doctors, several paramedics and nurses. There were vehicles with gigs and vehicles in the vicinity.
Leisure at the dressing station.
Dressing station.
Dressing station.
In the neighborhood. At the reception.
Ligation easily wounded.
Typhoid vaccine.
Loading the wounded.
During the location of the regiment in the settlements, the police organized washing in the baths and sanitary treatment of the uniforms through the so-called "Car vyshiboyku". Cruised and well-equipped with all necessary train-baths (we will tell about them in detail - in one of the following articles).
Walking bath and boilers for disinfecting linen.
Baths on the position.
The regiment had a regimental priest and a clerk (from the soldiers).
The regiment was served by field mail. The address for the posts looked as follows: Acting army, such and such regiment. It was believed that military secrecy was so preserved - but the regiment number did not keep this secret. Since a positional war caused a long stay of the unit at the same place, the local population knew exactly which units were located in their area - and the enemy could get the necessary information through their agents.
In quiet periods at the front, soldiers continued to teach literacy under the shelves - to write and read, as well as 4-th rules of arithmetic. There were also soldiers' libraries, periodically practiced “reading” with the demonstration of pictures - they were of great interest to the soldiers, because at that time the cinema was not yet widespread and was not available to the soldiers (but sometimes film screenings were carried out; so, working with documents from Astrakhan Cossack regiments, we found information about the Cossacks visiting the "cinema" - which came to the regiment in the spring of 1917). There were also gramophones - along with a set of records on which folk songs and military marches were recorded.
Read the newspaper.
Arranged amateur evenings, such as a Christmas tree, with appropriate performances. Simple performances were also staged. Played in the performances, as a rule, the soldiers who were "in the civilian" actors.
Concert.
The regimental family continued to remain at the front of the regimental family.
And the life of a Russian soldier and officer, determined by the conditions of the current combat situation and representing an exceptionally interesting phenomenon, is a grateful topic for subsequent detailed research.
Soldier's leisure.
Information