Voronezh Front Sanitary Corps Struggle against Epidemics (July, 1942 – March, 1943)
| 28 May 2024
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Markova S.V., Voronezh, Russian Federation
Voronezh Front Sanitary Corps Struggle against Epidemics (July, 1942 – March, 1943)
Abstract
The article studies measures used by the Voronezh front sanitary corps for preventing epidemics outbreaks during the Great Patriotic War. The history of combat operations of the Voronezh front from its assembling till the termination of the Voronezh-Kharkov strategic offensive operation came under review only in last two decades. Military medicine is of great importance both in and out of the field, as life, health and recovery of soldiers and officers depend greatly on work of the various medical services. History of the Voronezh front sanitary corps from the front assembling until the Kursk battle remains virtually unstudied. Based on the Military-Medicine Drawing on archive documents from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense the author studies the Voronezh front sanitary corps efforts in sanitation and preventing epidemics outbreaks. Military medics prevented acute infectious disease outbreaks. In summer, 1942 on the territory of Voronezh front was in malarial area and incidence rate grew. The Voronezh front sanitary corps managed to control the disease. In winter, 1942 there was a new threat to the soldiers’ health – typhus fever. The saprotyphus outbreak coincided with the Voronezh front offensive in February, 1943. Civilians of the occupied territories of Voronezh and Kursk as well as prisoners of war were infected. When the Voronezh front liberated these territories and the soldiers came into contact with the population there was as threat of typhus fever outbreak among them. On February 23, 1943 the Voronezh front Command declared an emergency epidemiological situation due to the increased incidence rate of typhus fever. To augment the regulated procedures (sanitary-epidemiological reconnaissance, disinsection, vaccination, quarantine, early case detection) and to help medical staff extra sanitation detachments were formed in each military unit, which were to monitor the health situation. The typhus fever epidemic was prevented. The Voronezh front sanitary corps taped the experience of summer and winter, 1942 in the Kursk offensive preparation.
Keywords
Source, archive, military medicine during the Great Patriotic War, the Voronezh front, antiepidemic and sanitation measures, typhus fever, malaria, infectious diseases during the Great Patriotic War.
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About the authors
Markova Svetlana Vasilyevna, PhD in History, senior lecturer of the Philosophy and Humanitarian Sciences Chair of the Voronezh N.N.Burdenko State Medical Academy, Head of the History Museum of the Voronezh N.N.Burdenko State Medical Academy, Voronezh, Russian Federation, 8-919-248-14-29, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it