Participation of G.D. Grebenshchikov in the work and elimination of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk Medical and Nutritional Group (1917-1918)

The article describes the activities of G.D. Grebenshchikov, a representative of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk Medical and Nutritional Group, a Siberian writer. Medical and nutritional groups played a significant role in the preservation of the lives of soldiers in the difficult conditions of war. Their activities consisted in evacuations of the wounded from battlefields, first aid, serving hot meals, organizing baths and disinfection chambers, etc. According to the author, an active charity group that funded the work of the groups was the Siberian Society Rendering Help to the Sick and Wounded Soldiers. The organization was created in September 1914 at the initiative of the Siberians living in Petrograd. In cooperation with the All-Russian Union of the Cities 11 medical and nutritional groups were sent to the front. An example of such work is the activities of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk Medical and Nutritional Group created at the initiative of members of the Novonikolaevsk Siberian Society Rendering Help to the Sick and Wounded Soldiers. On the basis of archival sources and materials of periodicals the chronology of the main stages of work of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk Medical and Nutritional Group is reconstructed. Since March 1915, the group was located on the Warsaw front. While under enemy fire, the staff carried out medical care for wounded warriors. By the end of 1915, because of the retreat of the Russian army the group moved to the east of Belarus. In 1916, the group was placed on the Southwest front. In May 1917, G.D. Grebenshchikov (1883?-1964), a famous Siberian writer, became the authorized representative of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk medical and nutritional group. Previously, he was able to establish himself as a medical orderly, helped refugees, was engaged in disinfection work in the premises for patients with typhus. On the front, the writer continued his artistic career, he wrote essays and stories for various Russian newspapers, started work on his epic novel Churaevy [The Churaevs]. Upon assuming the office of the representative, G.D. Grebenshchikov set to restore the work of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk Medical and Nutritional Group and managed to do it fast. In the summer of 1917, G.D. Grebenshchikov was appointed representative of the All-Russian Union of the Cities at the XI Army. In spite of the fact that the situation was difficult on the front, and the XI Army was retreating, the All-Russian Union of the Cities decided not to cease the work of groups. In November 1917, the Ukrainian National Republic was proclaimed. The author notes that the changes on the front and political transformations led to the elimination of urgent medical and nutritional groups on the territory of the republic. G.D. Grebenshchikov hoped to transfer the funds left after the liquidation of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk Medical and Nutritional Group to the development of medicine in Siberia. He did not accept the October revolution, he left Russia in 1920. The writer lived in France, and then moved to the USA for a permanent residence. G.D. Grebenshchikov made an essential contribution to the work of the Third Siberian Novonikolaevsk Medical and Nutritional Group.

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