In the early days of September 1915, Mayakovsky was drafted into the army. His friends were concerned about the poet’s fate. Gorky intervened on his behalf. Vladimir Alexandrovich Krit helped. In 1917, he was a colonel of the sapper troops, serving at the Petrograd driving school. It was there that he managed to place Mayakovsky. But it didn’t all settle immediately. Only at the beginning of October was the poet able to write to his family:

“Dear Mommy, Lyudochka, and Olechka! My ordeals with the draft have just ended, and I hurry to write to you and reassure you. I have been drafted and accepted into the Petrograd automobile school, where I was assigned to the drafting department as a skilled and experienced draftsman.

There is absolutely no need to worry about me. After work at the school, I can conduct all the classes I used to teach. My address remains the same…”

At that time, Mayakovsky was living in the “Palais Royal” hotel, by permission of the authorities due to the lack of space in the barracks. The barracks were located not far from the driving school — at house No. 90 on the Fontanka Embankment.

The letter to his family was written by Mayakovsky with the intention of calming them. There were many difficulties. The “experienced” draftsman had to learn how to draw automobile diagrams.

For a time, together with Radakov, who served as quartermaster, he was involved in arranging the placement of units arriving from the front in the city. For this, they searched for suitable free buildings and petitioned for their allocation to the driving school. Sometimes they even went to the Duma to prove the necessity of this. Mayakovsky also worked in the “accident department,” which dealt with analyzing accidents involving military vehicles. In case of an incident, he would go to the scene to create diagrams documenting the positions of the vehicles. After the February Revolution, Mayakovsky even took command of the driving school for a few days. And although he did not show particular diligence, on January 13, 1917, he was awarded a silver medal “For Zeal” on the Stanislav ribbon.

Service at the driving school did not bind the poet too much; it was also convenient that part of the drafting work was allowed to be done at home. Life outside the barracks allowed him not always to wear military uniform, which was forbidden when riding the tram, appearing in theaters, restaurants, and even on the street after a certain hour.

During his service in the automobile company, Mayakovsky wrote and published the poems “A Cloud in Trousers,” “The Backbone Flute,” “War and Peace,” and “The Man.”

Sources:

http://majakovsky.ru/mesta/podezdnoy-pereulok-4/

https://www.citywalls.ru/house3190.html