Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

Bibliographic data

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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XI. Work in the army

Collection:: Economics Books

208 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR were as a rule of short duration for the constant shifting from place to place, in accordance with the movements of the front line, fre- quently obliged the detachments to pack up and remove their insti- tutions, or, even more frequently, to hand them over complete to the zemstvo organizations of the front. There was another reason for the comparatively brief duration of the various organizations set up by the field detachments. This was the fact that such establishments usually came into being in the intervals between heavy fighting immediately behind the front lines, whereas the zemstvo workers were always eager to penetrate as close as possible to the trenches, where their services were naturally most needed. The detachments would hand over these establishments to the committees of the front, and would then push forward. The zemstvo detachments always tried to adjust themselves to the vital needs of the army in the field, digging themselves in right behind the trenches, often within the range of the fire of the enemy. Spacious Jugouts were prepared in which first-aid stations, kitchens, tea rooms, and depots would be set up. With the outside world com- munications could be maintained only in the night-time. The Zem- stvo Union also produced a special type of trench stove which came into extensive use on the southwestern front; it burnt solid alcohol, thus avoiding smoke, which would have attracted the attention of the enemy. This eagerness of the members of the zemstvo detach- ment to maintain close contact with the troops in action resulted not merely in practical benefits for the soldiers, but it also contributed, to an extraordinary extent, to the maintenance of a proper morale in the ranks of the army, who were made to feel that they had not been forgotten and were brought into direct contact with volunteers representing the general public in its endeavors to help them. Needless to say, this everlasting eagerness to go forward into the very thick of the fighting, and the manifest desire to share all the hardships and burdens of the army, could not but involve heavy sacrifices. At one time or another every zemstvo detachment was cer- tain to find itself exposed to the enemy’s fire, and the majority of the men and women serving on the staffs of the detachments were decorated with medals of St. George for gallantry. A considerable number of them were killed and wounded in the performance of their duties. The zemstvo detachment operating in the region of the Black Sea was captured in its entirety by the enemy and a similar

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