This photograph shows members of the Automobile Detachment of the 95th Krasnoyarsky Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War. The 95th Regiment was part of the 24th Infantry Division, alongside the 93rd Irkutsk, 94th Yenisei, and 96th Omsk Regiments—Siberian-named units that mobilized in 1914 and were sent west to fight on the Eastern Front. They are armed with 1907 Carbines.

The men pictured here were not frontline assault troops, but part of the regiment’s small motorized support element—known in Russian as an автомобильная команда (automobile detachment). In an army still overwhelmingly dependent on horse transport, these soldiers operated some of the regiment’s scarce motor vehicles. Their duties likely included transporting regimental staff officers, carrying dispatches between headquarters, moving urgent supplies, and maintaining vehicles under difficult wartime conditions. The driving goggles visible on their caps identify them as automobile personnel—an uncommon and technically skilled specialty in the Russian Army of the period.

The 24th Infantry Division entered combat in East Prussia in 1914 during the opening campaigns against Germany, including the disastrous fighting around Tannenberg. After the early campaigns in East Prussia and Poland, the division continued service on the Eastern Front, participating in defensive and withdrawal operations during the Great Retreat of 1915 and later operations on the Northern and Southwestern Fronts.

This image captures a rare glimpse of Imperial Russia’s early wartime motorization—soldiers who bridged the gap between traditional infantry warfare and the emerging mechanized age.