Patterns of capture of enemy soldiers by Russian fronts of the First World War

In relation to the combat circumstances of the actual captivity, the Siberian rear of the Russian Empire acted as the end point of “placement in places of detention.” In the research literature, little attention is paid to this “beginning” of the trajectory of foreign prisoners of war. This article takes the first steps to eliminate this gap, to identify the range of key aspects of “capture”. There are still discrepancies in determining the scale of human losses on the Eastern Front. Thus, modern historians S.G. Nelipovich and A.V. Oleinikov present mutually “polar” assessments in their publications. The clarification of the enemy's losses in the greater direction, carried out by S.G. Nelipovich from 2000 to 2024, was noted. Chronologically, data on the losses of Germany and Austria-Hungary on the Eastern Front by the dead and missing (according to German and Austrian data) and on the fate of foreign prisoners in Russia (according to Russian documentation) - on the number of allied troops sent to form, invalids sent to their homeland, sent to neutral countries, escaped, died, repatriated in the first place, etc. Russian military formations that took many trophies and prisoners are listed with the points of pre-war deployment. The difficulties of allocating divisions that “have seen the most and were the strongest of all” were noted. The largest episode of the capture of enemy soldiers was the surrender of the Austrian fortress of Przemysl on March 9, 1915. The residents of which administrative districts of Germany were most often killed by Russian weapons or taken prisoner are indicated. Information about the territory of the German corps of the pre-war formation operating on the Eastern Front has been seen. In conclusion, the spiritual phenomenon of the feat of Russian soldiers, officers and generals who captured enemy units is assessed - examples of awards of the Order of St. George of the 4th degree or St. George's arms, sequentially taken for each month of the war, are considered.

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