Evgeny Schwartz was drafted into the army in the autumn of 1916. In the spring of the following year, he was sent from Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) back to Moscow to study at a military school. In the same year, he first received the rank of junker, and later that of ensign. In 1918, he came to his family in Yekaterinodar, where he later joined the Volunteer Army. As part of it, he participated in the first Kuban campaign (the famous Ice March) under the command of Lieutenant General Viktor Leonidovich Pokrovsky, and also defended Yekaterinodar in March of the same year. He was shell-shocked, which left a slight tremor in his hands as a reminder, later worsened due to severe stress.

After recovering in a military hospital, Evgeny was demobilized. He did not want to work in his specialty, so he enrolled at Rostov University, simultaneously working with the "Theatrical Workshop," whose actress he married in 1920. He was enlisted in the political department of the Caucasian Front as an actor and theatrical instructor. He performed at the New Drama Theater "Proletkult." The 1920/21 season of the Workshop concluded with Gumilev's "Gondla." Gumilev learned about the production from Annenkov. In 1921, he served as flag secretary to the commander of the naval forces of the RSFSR, Nemits. Their train ran between the Don and the Volga. The commander inspected the Azov and Caspian flotillas. Their train stopped briefly in Rostov, and the poet decided to find the theater that first staged his play. He liked the production and, after the performance, said: "Thank you, guys. Such a theater should be moved to Petrograd."

When the troupe saw the poet off at the station, he repeated that he would try to transfer their theater to Petrograd. No one took his words seriously. They thought it was just a courtesy ritual. But on August 23, the Petrograd newspaper "Life of Art" reported: "Recently, at Theo, together with representatives of the currently existing theater studio 'Theatrical Workshop' in Rostov-on-Don, Gorelik and Natolin, the issue of transferring the theater to Petrograd was positively resolved. The literary work of the theater is taken over by the Petrograd Branch of the All-Union Union of Poets, by selecting the repertoire, explaining it, and preparing new works. The decorative part is in the hands of artists Saryan, Lansere, and Arapov. The musical part — Gnesin and Kheifets."

In Moscow, the troupe was met by Gorelik. He said that Gumilev had been executed in the Tagantsev case, but that he had arranged everything in Petrograd. On October 5, 1921, around four in the afternoon, their group arrived at the Moscow sorting station. The Shvarts family settled at Nevsky 59.

On the very first evening after their arrival, Ganya and Zhenya Shvarts went to the recently revived production of Meyerhold's "Masquerade" with Yuryev in the role of Arbenin. They lived in a commune. Everyone was put on rations. Most often, they received potatoes. The duty officers peeled and boiled them for everyone. They took on side jobs.

Source:

https://www.citywalls.ru/house1027.html

Evgeny Mikhailovich Binevich, “Evgeny Shvarts. Chronicle of Life”

https://ria.ru/20161021/1479659052.html

https://24smi.org/celebrity/5230-evgenii-shvarts.html