In the Volyn Museum of Local Lore, the exhibition "In the Frontline Zone: Volyn in 1914-1918. (To the 90th Anniversary of the Outbreak of World War I)" is on display in the exposition of the Department of Ancient History. During the First World War, Volyn became an arena of large-scale battles and the redeployment of a large number of troops. The exhibition introduces the history of Volyn in those times when prolonged and protracted battles took place on most of its territory, and the history of Lutsk in 1914-1918. Unique exhibits are presented (some for the first time): documents and photographs. Among them: a photo of Russian soldiers taking down bells in Lutsk in 1914; photos of Volyn residents who participated in World War I: Sats V., Andriychuk M. (Lutsk), Sokolovskyi P. (Berestechko), Bondarchuk P., artist H. Ostapenko (author of many drawings with war themes, who worked in Kovel in the 1920s), Ye. Stepanenko, and medical assistant S. Myroniuk with his family. Unique photographs show the stay of Russian soldiers in Lutsk and Kolky, and the trenches and observation posts of the 306th Moksha Regiment in the Manevychi area. The originals are successfully complemented by copied materials of orders for the Southwestern Front signed by General O. Brusylov, views of Lutsk, Torchyn, and Olyka made by photographers and artists L. Solohub and H. Lukomskyi, and a photograph of fraternization between Russian and Austrian soldiers in the village of Shelviv (30 km from Lutsk) in 1917. Also presented are selections of the magazine "Chronicle of the War" from 1914-1917 with materials about Lutsk, in particular about General A. Zaionchkovskyi, a participant in the operation to capture Lutsk in 1915, and General L. Kaledin, the liberator of the city in 1916. The exhibition complements the permanent exposition of the Department of Ancient History of the Volyn Museum of Local Lore, which is dedicated to the events of 1914-1918. The exposition also contains materials about the evacuation of Volyn residents in 1914, the activities of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen in Volyn, the Polish legions of Yu. Pilsudski in the Manevychi area, the Brusylov Breakthrough of 1916, and the feat of scout Kupriian Syvyi from Boratyn. Numerous documentary and material items are displayed, in particular: awards, badges of military units (Russian, Austrian, German), military ammunition, weapons, a map compiled by P. Tutkovskyi, letters from the front, and so on. Many materials of the exhibition and exposition tell about Lutsk in 1914-1918.
Historical reference (Lutsk during World War I). In the summer of 1915, Lutsk, like all of Western Volyn, was occupied by Austrian and German troops. Russian troops hastily left the city without organizing the evacuation of the urban population. On their own, the residents of Lutsk, including representatives of the city administration, left Lutsk at their own fear and risk on the night of August 28-29, 1915. Many residents of Lutsk were evacuated to Kharkiv Governorate and the central governorates of Russia. They returned in the spring-autumn of 1918. In total, ¾ of the population left Lutsk. On August 31, Austro-Hungarian troops entered the city. From the autumn of 1915 to the spring of 1916, positional combat operations took place on Volyn land. The warring sides made great efforts to achieve the defeat of the enemy. Having significantly exhausted their material and human resources, they still did not achieve the desired results. The war, which they dreamed of ending quickly, turned into a protracted one. The only case of a break in the front-line calm was the Lutsk offensive operation of the Russian army in September 1915. In strategic terms, this is a exemplary military operation. General O. Brusylov planned to strike at the left flank of the 4th Austrian Army, push the enemy beyond the Styr River, and occupy the cities of Rozhyshche and Lutsk. The offensive began on September 1, 1915. It was started by the 30th Corps of General A. Zaionchkovskyi, reinforced by the 4th Rifle Iron Division of General A. Denikin. A conflict arose between the two generals. Brusylov later recalled: "Denikin, without referring to any difficulties, rushed to Lutsk in one sweep, took it, during the battle drove himself by car into the city and from there sent me a telegram that the 4th Rifle Division had taken Lutsk." After that, A. Zaionchkovskyi reported that his units had taken Lutsk. But on his telegram Brusylov made a humorous note: "...and took General Denikin prisoner." For the capture of Lutsk on September 26, 1915, Denikin received the rank of lieutenant general. The Iron Division lost 40% of its personnel. However, for unclear reasons, Lutsk was ordered to be abandoned. Along Rivnenska Street after the occupation of Lutsk by Austrian troops, various army household services were located: warehouses, workshops, laundries, bakeries, and stage infirmaries. During the occupation of the city by the Austrians, Ukrainian Sich Riflemen appeared in Lutsk. In accordance with the order of the Chief of the Command of the 4th Austrian Army dated January 29, 1916, a group of USS officers headed by M. Havrylyk arrived in Lutsk and created a "recruitment commissariat." Under the guise of recruiting volunteers, the cultural and educational work of Galicians in Volyn began. Thus, thanks to the war, for the first time during Russian rule, a Ukrainian national school was opened in Lutsk. With the assistance of the Sich Riflemen, the Ukrainian press also began to appear, in particular "Lutsk News." The collapse of the Austrian Empire dynamized relations between Ukrainians and Poles in Volyn. In Lutsk on the eve of World War I, 2,000 Poles lived out of 30,000 residents. And after its end - 600 people (for comparison, already in 1937 - 14,000 out of 40,500 total population). In a letter from an unknown Ukrainian teacher from Lutsk, which he sent to the Ukrainian political center in Vienna in January 1916, it said: "I politely ask the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine to free us from Polish violence... We hoped to be under Austrian authority, but found ourselves under the Polish yoke, which is even worse than the Russian one. The district command is Polish, the stage command is Polish, the city government is Polish. I have already been sitting for four months without work and without bread, and my family has five people. I am not given any opportunity to earn and I am threatened and not allowed to teach schoolchildren. Ukrainians are not admitted to any service." An important place in the history of World War I is occupied by the military operation that entered the history of the war under the name of the Brusylov Breakthrough (after the name of the commander of the Southwestern Front, General Oleksii Brusylov), and which military historians consider the most successful operation of the Russians during the entire war. Having concentrated significant military forces in Volyn, the Russian army at dawn on May 22 (June 4, N.S.) 1916 began the offensive of the Southwestern Front. The greatest success was achieved in the direction of the 8th Army of General Kaledin. On May 25, 1916, the city of Lutsk was liberated from Austro-Hungarian troops. In late June - early July 1916, units of the Special 13th Army under the command of General V.M. Bezobrazov began to be transferred to the Lutsk area to launch an offensive in the direction of Brest-Kobryn-Pruzhany. More than 20,000 military personnel were in the Lutsk garrison. The front-line status of Lutsk determined certain features of city life. Thus, already in December 1916, four military hospitals No. 347, 348, 425, 508, as well as the 60th epidemiological hospital, were stationed in the city, serving sick and wounded soldiers of the Special Army. The population of the city experienced all the horrors of war while in the zone of military operations of the Special Army. Lutsk suffered significantly in December 1916 from bomb strikes by German aviation. The airplanes not only bombed the city but also dropped a considerable number of incendiary means. As a result, significant material damage was inflicted on Lutsk. On December 27, 1916, the commandant of Lutsk, Colonel Nazimov, even issued a special order on residents observing blackout measures and the need for vehicles to move at night with lights off. However, fires continued. The February Revolution of 1917 in Russia also affected Lutsk. Among the soldiers of the Special Army, the Bolshevik organization of the RSDLP (b) was most active. Soon a Council of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies was formed in the city. On March 27-30, 1917, the 1st Army Congress of representatives of military units of the Special Army was also held in Lutsk. The 2nd (April 23-25) and 3rd (May 17-26) 1917 army congresses were also held here, supporting the Provisional Government and its course toward continuing the offensive at the front.
As part of one of the military units of the Special Army, the famous aviator and artist K.K. Artseulov took part in battles near Lutsk. In the sky near Lutsk, the Russian ace conducted 18 air battles and emerged victorious from all of them. In 1915, not far from Lutsk, a private of the Austrian army, the journalist J. Hašek, known in the Czech Republic (and later the author of the famous novel "The Good Soldier Švejk"), voluntarily surrendered into Russian captivity. In the Lutsk garrison, as part of a radio division during World War I, Serhii Vavilov served - in the future an outstanding Soviet scientist and president of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In the conditions of a field laboratory, he conducted scientific research. In Lutsk in October 1916, S. Vavilov wrote his first scientific work, "A Method for Determining Radio Stations by the Strength of Reception of Their Operation." During the World War, the importance of streets such as Volychka and Rivnenska grew in Lutsk. It was here that refugees from Kholm region settled and ordinary soldiers of the Lutsk garrison were stationed. In 1916, the command of the Special Army, stationed in the Lutsk area, issued an order to construct a wooden theater building on the territory of the castle. Later it received the name "Liubart's Castle." Performances and concerts for officers and soldiers and the civilian population were held here, and films were shown. The events in Lutsk during World War I are recalled in their memoirs by generals O. Brusylov and A. Denikin, an unknown staff captain of the 8th Army (printed in the Russian magazine "Military Past," published in Brussels), and a literary work was also created - the novel "The Brusylov Breakthrough" by Serhii Serhieiev-Tsenskyi, a participant in the Lutsk operation of 1916.