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