204 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
being wounded near the German trenches, after which he had been
picked up and sent to our detachment.

One of these men died two hours after the operation, but the other
survived and after a time was fit for evacuation to the interior.*
It is not easy to obtain complete reports covering the work of the
zemstvo detachments in this particular field. As a rule, no serious
attempt was made to obtain anything like complete and satisfactory
reports. They very often failed to mention the number of the
wounded attended to; this was due to the fact that during the second
 half of the campaign the war censorship suppressed the publication
 of such reports. Only thirty reports covering more or less
extensive periods, from three to twelve months, contain information
concerning the number of wounded soldiers who were given first aid
and transported by the detachments. Summing up this information,
we find that in the course of a year’s work one detachment composed
of three flying squads attended from 5,000 to 12,000 cases. This
figure, no doubt, is not very large; but it must be remembered that
there were months of inactivity in the trenches, as against mere
days of actual fighting. There were instances when the small staff
of a flying squad had to deal with as many as six hundred casualties
a day. On the other hand, there were periods when a field hospital
would receive no more than a few score of patients in the course of
an entire month. It should be noted, however, that even in the intervals
 between battles the zemstvo detachments did not remain idle.
Indeed, they were able to render the largest amount of service and
benefit to the army precisely within these comparatively peaceful
periods.

Bathing Stations.

Position fighting, involving long periods of confinement to the
trenches, was going on under unhygienic conditions detrimental to
the health of the men. Covered with filth and vermin, the soldiers
proved an easy prey to infection. Accordingly the zemstvo detachments
 gave their first attention to the erection of bathing stations
for the troops. These bathing stations varied greatly in type as circumstances
 required. Sometimes they were commodious premises
equipped with shower baths and other conveniences: at other times
10 Igvestia (Bulletin), No. 9, p. 81.