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, frequently
 obliged the detachments to pack up and remove their institutions,
 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 communications
 could be maintained only in the night-time. The Zemstvo
 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 detachment
 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 certain
 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