284 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
interfered with the work of the artillery, carrying out mining and sap-
ping operations, erecting buildings, constructing and maintaining in
proper condition roads and bridges, and carrying out behind the lines
various work, such as assembling timber for building, constructing wire
entanglements, draining and heating the trenches, laying telephone
lines, erecting bathhouses, and the like.
For each thousand laborers (chiefly diggers and carpenters, and
to a lesser extent blacksmiths and unskilled labor) there were pro-
vided: four engineers (in addition to the leader of the battalion and
his assistant), eight assistant engineers, two electricians, four tele-
phone operators, twenty foremen, and five clerks. Each company
had its own doctor, assisted by four junior medical officers and four
orderlies, and its own transport, consisting of two hundred horses
and several motor lorries. It carried with it spacious, warm tents,
cach accommodating seventy men, a complete kitchen equipment,
and the staff required to look after the daily needs of the battalion.
[t was provided with necessary tools, such as spades, axes, crowbars,
hammers, etc. The ration was definitely prescribed by the Ministry
of War; it consisted of one Russian pound of meat,® 21% pounds of
rye bread, 32 zolotniks® of grits, 32 zolotniks of cabbage, 8.6 zolot-
niks of butter or lard, 6 zolotniks of flour, 14 zolotnik of tea, and 8
zolotniks of sugar. The laborers were permitted to buy at cost price,
on account of wages due, complete outfits of warm underwear and
fur clothing from the stores of the Zemgor. The engineers and their
assistants not only made every effort to have the trenches conform
exactly to the drawings, but they took care also that their work
should in some slight measure at least satisfy the purely aesthetic
demands of architecture. The result was that this organization very
soon became exceedingly popular at the front, and visitors used to
come from far to admire the so-called “zemstvo trenches.” This
popularity, however, was soon to have somewhat unfortunate conse-
quences for the battalions for the military authorities began to push
them nearer and nearer to the front, and some were compelled to
work even under fire. When the first casualties occurred, not all the
laborers were willing to face the situation calmly, and requests be-
gan to pour in for transfers to the rear, and here and there deser-
tions took place.®
5 One Russian pound = 0.9 lb. " One zolotnik = 0.15 ounces.
3 Izvestia (Bulletin) of the Zemgor, Nos. 10-11, pp. 146-159.
