The Sanitary Service of the 431st Tikhvin Infantry Regiment during World War I

The article analyzes the formation and development of the sanitary service in one particular regiment in the period from August 1914 to December 1916. The main body of sources con- sists of archival files of the respective military unit. The novelty of the present paper is seen in the fact that it is the first study devoted to the formation of the medical service of the regiment, starting with the militia squads. It is proved that in the squads the sanitary unit was not independent but relied on the zemstvo medical system of the cities and on the infirmaries of the garrisons. A focus is on the work of doctors in the 431st Tikhvin Regiment during their stay in Livonia from June 1915 to May 1916. Various areas of medical care of the regiment before participating in hostilities are studied in detail: the treatment of soldiers and prophylactic examinations, sanitary education, supervision of places of residence, as well as the prevention of infectious diseases. It is established that during the guard service of the regiment, the sanitary unit worked satisfactorily. The article zooms in on the expansion of the duties of the regiment's sanitary service at the front starting in the summer of 1916, and identifies how the medical personnel of the regiment was replenished. Special attention is paid to the difficult sanitary and hygienic situation at the front in Austria-Hungary, and the measures that were taken to combat the main epidemics that arose at the front, namely typhus, cholera, and dysentery. Equally discussed are the consequences of unsettled life and malnutrition.