Zoshchenko was assigned to the 16th Grenadier Mingrelian His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich’s Regiment of the Caucasian Division. At first, Ensign Zoshchenko was appointed head of the machine gun team, then became a company commander. The regiment was commanded by General Prince Makaev, who, after the very first combat mission entrusted to Zoshchenko, declared that he was very pleased with his company. Zoshchenko was embarrassed by such an assessment because they had not broken through the enemy’s barricades or driven the Germans out of their trenches. He did not know — he simply was not informed about this before the battle — that this was merely a diversionary attack by one unit, a demonstration doomed to casualties, and not the main offensive, which was being carried out on another flank by a neighboring regiment. In this attack, Zoshchenko was lightly wounded by a shrapnel fragment in the leg, but striving to complete the assigned task, he ran up to the German barbed wire, where he lay with the company for two hours under fierce machine gun and artillery fire, when it was impossible to raise one’s head, let alone stand up, and only then, upon receiving the battalion commander’s order, did he withdraw the company to their original positions.

One of the most severe front-line trials he faced was the German gas attack near Smorgon in Belarus on the night of July 20, 1916. Zoshchenko remembered it all his life. The regimental medic twice filed reports that day about “poisoning by the enemy’s poisonous gases.” The final report stated: “3 officers were affected. … Among the lower ranks, 405 men were affected, 14 of whom died. …” All three affected officers were junior — two ensigns and one second lieutenant. Second Lieutenant Zoshchenko inhaled suffocating gases while giving commands to his grenadiers before putting on his gas mask himself. The Germans methodically released the gas from cylinders, using the wind blowing toward the Russians. After this gas attack, Zoshchenko spent two months in the hospital.

Soon he became a lieutenant. Then Prince Makaev, who called Zoshchenko “the kid,” transferred him to the position of regimental adjutant (an officer assisting the regiment commander with official assignments and staff work). By the middle of the war, Zoshchenko was already a battalion commander.

He constantly had to solve a difficult — especially in army conditions — moral task: to be a strict autocratic commander while simultaneously restraining himself from applying harsh punishments even to those who seemed to be obvious scoundrels. This task was further complicated by his innate delicacy and absolute respect for human dignity.

Nevertheless, his authority as a combat commander was universally recognized — by both subordinates and superiors. He confidently led the battalion, setting a personal example of endurance and courage. Several photographs from those combat times have been preserved. Here is Ensign Zoshchenko in Petrograd, August 1915, sitting very straight on a stool with a saber planted point-down between his knees, without a cap. A very young boy. He was apparently in Petrograd then on a business trip to receive reinforcements. And here — a year later — a completely seasoned soldier, standing on a forest road in his usual field uniform, a confident front-line trench fighter. And also — a group photo. Under the photo, a note by Zoshchenko made in 1933 in the spirit of the Soviet era: “The ‘gold-epaulet scoundrel’ in 1916 at the front.”

At the very beginning of the memorable year 1916 for him, Zoshchenko experienced deep personal emotions. He was granted leave, and upon arriving in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg was renamed at the start of the war), he went to see his beloved Nadya V., his sweetheart since gymnasium. Their emotional conversation took place on a bench near the famous destroyer “Steregushchy” monument in Petersburg — a long-time meeting place where Nadya once confessed her love to him and from where they went to the cinema to kiss. Zoshchenko writes that he was “infuriated” to see Nadya arm in arm with her fiancé the day after their conversation, and so he broke up with her.

He returned to his regiment, to the front, to his fellow officer comrades, to his soldiers, and fought for another full year, each day of which he could have been killed. By the end of the war, he had five combat orders, the rank of staff captain, and was recommended for captain. “But that did not mean I was a hero. It meant that I was on the front lines for two years in a row. I participated in many battles, was wounded, poisoned by gases. I ruined my heart.” This is the summary Zoshchenko himself gives in the story “Before Sunrise” about his participation in the First World War.

Here is the list of Zoshchenko’s combat awards earned in the “German” war:

1. Order of Saint Stanislaus 3rd Class with swords and bow — “For distinction in actions against the enemy.” (Awarded as an ensign.)

2. Order of Saint Anna 4th Class with the inscription “For Bravery.” (Awarded as a second lieutenant.)

3. Order of Saint Stanislaus 2nd Class with swords. (Awarded as a lieutenant.)

4. Order of Saint Anna 3rd Class with swords and bow. (Awarded as a staff captain.)

5. Order of Saint Vladimir 4th Class. (The order was signed in January 1917 but not received due to evacuation to the rear because of illness and subsequent revolutionary events. At the same time, he was recommended for the next rank, but this recommendation also remained on paper.)

“Finale” — the title of the autobiographical story chapter-episode describing an officers’ dinner during rest in the second echelon, after which he felt seriously ill. The military doctor diagnosed a heart defect. “They are taking me to the hospital over the melting February snow.” This was February 1917.

Sources:

Bernhard Ruben, Zoshchenko

https://kudago.com/spb/list/po-sledam-mihaila-zoshenko-v-peterburge/