SICK AND WOUNDED
the Zemstvo Union ranks first among the institutions caring for the
sick and wounded soldiers, since the Ministry of War has furnished
about 160,000 beds, the city of Moscow about 75,000, the Union of
Towns about 70,000, and the Red Cross about 48.000.2

91

The great increase in the number of hospital beds was due to the
restricted number of clearing hospitals established by the military
authorities. In spite of the fact that Unions of Zemstvos and Towns
came to the aid of the Ministry of War in organizing not only the
five clearing hospitals mentioned above, but also two more besides
{Ekaterinoslav and Rostov), the total number of beds in the seven
clearing hospitals was only 15,000. It is true that, in actual practice,
 the sick and wounded stayed at these clearing hospitals an
average of only three instead of the expected ten days; however, instead
 of receiving a real treatment, they were merely registered, and
their wounds dressed, while their underwear and clothing was being
disinfected. With the rapid evacuation of patients, the clearing hospitals
 were thus enabled to deal with all arrivals, but the heavy
stream of patients to the interior demanded a correspondingly
larger number of hospitals which would receive them.
The evacuations of the first few months brought home to the
Zemstvo Union the fact that it was impracticable to keep up a strict
system of attaching entire provinces to a certain clearing hospital,
since parts of some provinces might be reached more easily by some
other clearing hospitals. Thus, for instance, the district towns of
Kashira and Venev in the province of Tula, attached to the clearing
hospital of Orel, are 102 and 165 versts respectively by rail from
Moscow, while trains from Orel have to cover 425 versts to Kashira
and 488 versts to Venev. Practical experience of this kind stimulated
 the Zemstvo Union to consider the possibility of a radical
revision of the entire system of evacuation so as to redistribute the
evacuation areas according to the convenience of railway communication.

Such a revision of the original plan was soon made, and, after the
matter had been discussed with the representatives of the Union of
Towns, the new evacuation scheme was laid before the general staff.
On December 20, 1914, the Ministry of War gave its approval to
the new plan. Under this plan the Ministry assigned a certain num-*
 Kratki Ocherk Deyatelnosti (Outline), Moscow, 1916, p. 11.