WORK IN THE ARMY 201 
of the Seventh Zemstvo Detachment, which was intended for opera- 
tions in East Prussia. The formation of this unit was begun in the 
latter part of November, 1914, and it was ready to leave Moscow on 
December 15. One peculiar feature of this detachment was that it 
could in case of need be split up into several independent units. 
The general scheme of work was as follows: At the most advanced 
point near a railway station the base hospital of the detachment was 
set up. From this hospital, along roads practical for automobiles, 
field hospitals were established, and beyond these, as close as pos- 
sible to the battle line, horse ambulances with stretcher bearers were 
pushed forward. The ambulances took the wounded to the field hos- 
pitals, and here their wounds were dressed, they were fed, given a 
bath, and had their clothing and underwear cleansed and disin- 
fected. Those wounded who were able to endure further transport 
were sent by automobile to the base hospital of the detachment. Here 
they were registered and subjected to indispensable operations, 
after which the cases which required further evacuation were placed 
in the zemstvo hospital trains sent to the rear. 
The personnel of the detachment consisted of four hundred mem- 
bers, besides twelve surgeons. It was provided with army tents spe- 
cially made for the Union, bathing facilities, disinfection chambers, 
thirty-two automobiles, one hundred horses, and a number of 
wagons. The complete equipment of the Seventh Zemstvo Detach- 
ment, the largest of all, cost about 340,000 rubles. By December 10, 
1914, the equipment of the detachment was completed. One of the 
field hospitals of the detachment was set up for examination and 
trial on the Khodynka Field on the outskirts of Moscow, at that 
time covered with snow. The Emperor and his family made a care- 
ful examination of the hospital, and the Empress presented it with 
a field chapel. The favorable impression produced by the hospital 
upon the Imperial Family greatly facilitated the Zemstvo Union’s 
requests for further appropriations by the Government for similar 
purposes. 
Thus a carefully considered plan of organization and operation 
was rapidly evolved from the haphazard equipment of the first two 
zemstvo detachments. In war, however, even the most carefully 
planned schemes very seldom work out in accordance with expecta- 
tion, and thus it happened that as the Seventh Detachment was 
about to leave for the front in East Prussia. alarming news reached