Nikulin Daniil O.,
Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Officer and Instruction: the Role of Personal Factor in the Training of Marching Companies of the World War I (Omsk Military District)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2018-2-11
This article is based on materials of inspections of the marching companies intended for departure to the battle-front that had completed a course of training in the depot battalions of the Omsk military district. As can be seen from the orders to the battalions, brigades and the military district, the marching companies varied significantly in terms of their qualification. The aim of the article is to check the presumption that the differences depended upon the officers’ personal qualities and their views on the training methods. The facts discovered by the author let confirm that the majority of commanders possessed a certain degree of freedom within the limits of official instructions. Although the training program was partly determined by the “The regulation on infantry training”, main officers were in a position to alter certain points of instructions and regulations. Making timetables for exercises in their units, the commanders would take into consideration their own priorities concerning personnel training. Some of them paid more attention to shooting, others to formation training, etc. Some commanders tried to introduce novelties in respect to the experience of the Russo-Japanese war and World War I; meanwhile the others would exercise old methods. It was only partly that the state of affairs depended upon the main officers’ views because junior commanders (company officers) were not always active enough and successful enough in fulfilling the instructions received.
Publishing: 19/12/2018
How to cite: Nikulin D.O. Officer and Instruction: the Role of Personal Factor in the Training of Marching Companies of the World War I (Omsk Military District) // Historical Courier, 2018, # 2. Article 11. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2018/ISTKURIER-2018-2-11.pdf
Links: Issue 2 2018
Keywords: World War I; Omsk military district; depot battalions; training; inspection