The first months

When the war began, Vladimir Steklov was in Britain with his wife. They did not manage to return to Russia the usual way – via Germany – and set off for home by a long way: by sea to Norway, then via Sweden and Finland with a stop at Viborg. In the evening of August 5 (Old Style), the Steklovs arrived at the Finland Station in St. Petersburg and suddenly stumbled across Friedmann. The encounter proved to be quite timely, because Steklov had no money at all with him, so Friedmann gave him some and helped to hire a cab. The next day Steklov wrote in his diary: “Friedmann turned up unexpectedly … Had volunteered to join up and serve in an aviation company; sent by the Main Physical Observatory. He helped fix the lighting for the fuses had blown, otherwise we would have been sitting in the dark. So he put things right, Olga had come across some spare fuses. Had a lot of tea with rolls bought at Viborg, Friedmann left at 1 a.m.”

Friedmann writes in his autobiography that “in order to introduce aerological observations into aviation practice and thus, on the one hand, provide a service to aviation, and, on the other hand, increase the number of aerological stations, he joined, with the permission and approval of B. B. Golitsyn, Director of the Observatory, the volunteer aviation detachment; in which he worked, first on the northern front, near the towns of Osovets and Lyk, and later on other fronts, to organize aerological observations and aeronautical services in general.”

Thus began Friedmann's war odyssey, which lasted for some three years.