Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1794855874

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179223

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Polner, Tichon I. http://d-nb.info/gnd/172311195

Title:: Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

Place of publication:: New Haven

Publisher:: Yale Univ. Press

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: XXV, 317 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XIII. The Joint Committee of the unions of Zemstvos and of towns for the supply of military equipment and munitions

Collection:: Economics Books

284 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR interfered with the work of the artillery, carrying out mining and sap- ping operations, erecting buildings, constructing and maintaining in proper condition roads and bridges, and carrying out behind the lines various work, such as assembling timber for building, constructing wire entanglements, draining and heating the trenches, laying telephone lines, erecting bathhouses, and the like. For each thousand laborers (chiefly diggers and carpenters, and to a lesser extent blacksmiths and unskilled labor) there were pro- vided: four engineers (in addition to the leader of the battalion and his assistant), eight assistant engineers, two electricians, four tele- phone operators, twenty foremen, and five clerks. Each company had its own doctor, assisted by four junior medical officers and four orderlies, and its own transport, consisting of two hundred horses and several motor lorries. It carried with it spacious, warm tents, cach accommodating seventy men, a complete kitchen equipment, and the staff required to look after the daily needs of the battalion. [t was provided with necessary tools, such as spades, axes, crowbars, hammers, etc. The ration was definitely prescribed by the Ministry of War; it consisted of one Russian pound of meat,® 21% pounds of rye bread, 32 zolotniks® of grits, 32 zolotniks of cabbage, 8.6 zolot- niks of butter or lard, 6 zolotniks of flour, 14 zolotnik of tea, and 8 zolotniks of sugar. The laborers were permitted to buy at cost price, on account of wages due, complete outfits of warm underwear and fur clothing from the stores of the Zemgor. The engineers and their assistants not only made every effort to have the trenches conform exactly to the drawings, but they took care also that their work should in some slight measure at least satisfy the purely aesthetic demands of architecture. The result was that this organization very soon became exceedingly popular at the front, and visitors used to come from far to admire the so-called “zemstvo trenches.” This popularity, however, was soon to have somewhat unfortunate conse- quences for the battalions for the military authorities began to push them nearer and nearer to the front, and some were compelled to work even under fire. When the first casualties occurred, not all the laborers were willing to face the situation calmly, and requests be- gan to pour in for transfers to the rear, and here and there deser- tions took place.® 5 One Russian pound = 0.9 lb. " One zolotnik = 0.15 ounces. 3 Izvestia (Bulletin) of the Zemgor, Nos. 10-11, pp. 146-159.

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