Pomglavkorum Dmitry Grigorievich Shcherbachev and Liquidation of the Romanian Front in the Winter - Spring of 1918

Russia's withdrawal from WWI after the Bolsheviks had come to power in October 1917 suggested the abolition of the Russian army. The transfer of the highest military power into the hands of the Bolshevik Headquarters of the High Command and the declaration of a ceasefire meant that this abolition would occur in a short time. While each of the five Russian fronts had to attend to its liquidation, the only one that managed to organise a relatively orderly procedure was the Romanian front. Other fronts entered the unfolding Civil War in Russia even before the end of demobilisation. As the Romanian front was located on the territory of the union state, Romania, the presence of a foreign army softened the consequences of the Bolshevik coup for the Russian troops in Romania. In addition, the Romanian occupation of Bessarabia allowed the Headquarters of the Romanian Front to streamline the demobilisation of troops. The liquidation of the front, together with the demobilisation of the service personnel and the complement of horses, involved the military property removal to Russia. On all fronts, most of the military property was either plundered or lost, or appropriated by the opposing Civil War sides. Pomglavkorum (Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Romanian Front) D.G. Shcherbachev and his assistants managed to depot most of the property through transferring it to the Romanians for storage. Finally, this property went to Romania. However, if the Soviet regime had failed, it would have been returned to the new political regime succeeding the Russian Empire.

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