[A priceless contribution to the theory and practice of military public health].

The article is dedicated to the outstanding figure in national medicine--colonel-general MD E.I. Smirnov (1904-1989), the Hero of Socialist Labour, member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, who was the Head of the Main Military Sanitary Department of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic war, and the Minister of Health of the USSR in the post-war period. The main attention of the author is drawn on the contribution of E.I. Smirnov to the development of military medicine. The article makes a detailed analysis of the role of E. Smirnov in the development and practical implementation of military medical doctrine and the antiepidemic support system during the years of the Great Patriotic War, as well as his contribution for organizational arrangement of field therapy as an independent scientific discipline and as a subject of study in the system of medical education; his merits in organization of specialized medical care; formation of an institution of senior medical specialists; reforms in military medical education. The article contains many concrete examples which characterize a celebrated personality of E.I. Smirnov and his leadership qualities.