WORK IN THE ARMY 
train services in the so-called “evacuation to the interior’ which was 
to continue throughout the War. 
The conditions under which five complete zemstvo trains had at 
the outset been dispatched to Belostok have already been described. 
Subsequently, further trains were dispatched from Moscow in sets 
of five, and the department so expanded its work that it was able, if 
necessary, to prepare equipment for an entire train at one day’s 
notice. Up to November 10, a total of thirty trains (twenty to Be- 
lostok, for the northern front, and ten to Brest for the southern) 
had been dispatched for the “evacuation from the front.” Five 
trains were operating in the “evacuation to the interior,” transport 
ing the casualties from Moscow to points in the interior. 
It cannot be said that the first few trains arriving at Belostok 
received a cordial welcome. At that time the local evacuation au- 
thorities could see no urgent necessity for such trains. The idea of 
packing up and again unpacking hospital trains of the kind previ- 
ously described was positively rejected, simply because it did not fit 
into the official forms and methods of evacuation. It required a great 
deal of tact and patient persistence to obtain a sufficient number of 
cars. After that came innumerable examinations of the trains 
(among others, by Prince Oldenburg). At last, it became possible to 
put the trains to work one after another. An order was issued that 
they should be permanently kept completely equipped. The obsta- 
cles were gradually removed and normal relations established with 
the competent authorities. 
By order of the military authorities, a gradual rearrangement of 
the rolling stock was proceeding. Among other things, there was an 
order to include in the trains fifteen fourth-class cars for those 
slightly injured and one second-class car for the officers. The army 
authorities were also anxious to provide better facilities for the per- 
sonnel of the trains. From Moscow the staffs would travel third and 
fourth class, but in the war zone it was ordered that third-class cars 
should be provided for the orderlies and second-class for the medi- 
cal staff. It was naturally only possible to make all these changes 
gradually, as the required rolling stock became available at Belos- 
tok. The Polesie Railways presented the Zemstvo Union with twenty 
splendidly equipped cars for use in bandaging the wounded. The 
! See above, p. 67.