At the beginning of World War I, classes at the academy were discontinued, and the students returned to their units.

[2] In January 1917, he was recalled from the front to continue his studies at the academy, where it was decided to resume classes.

From December 1936, Shilovsky was a senior lecturer, and from May 1940, head of the operational art department of the Red Army General Staff Academy.

He was instructed to evacuae the academy from Moscow to Ufa and urgently restructure the educational process.

During the Second World War Shilovsky made a significant contribution to the development of the theory of deep operations.