WORK IN THE ARMY
followed and, angered by the persistent objections of the Zemstvo
Union, Prince Oldenburg finally issued an order to confiscate the
zemstvo trains and hand them over to the Red Cross Society. On
second thought, however, he rescinded his order. Nevertheless military
 commanders were gradually appointed to an increasing number
 of zemstvo trains and conflicts broke out. Petitions began to be
received from the zemstvo staffs, asking for permission to resign
their posts, and there seemed real danger that the entire organization
 would collapse. The Central Committee of the Union, having
exhausted all possibilities of an amicable settlement, was compelled
in November, 1916, to request the Ministry of War to take over the
zemstvo trains.’ Until the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution,
however, the trains were not transferred to the Ministry but continued
 to operate under the direction of the Zemstvo Union.
After the downfall of the Empire in March, 1917, the Provisional
Government dispatched several zemstvo trains to Siberia with orders
to take up and bring back to Petrograd and Moscow the political
prisoners of the old régime who were languishing in prisons throughout
 Siberia.

199

Field Detachments: Organization and Purpose.

It has already been shown under what conditions the first two
field detachments of the Zemstvo Union left Moscow for General
Brusilov’s army.” These detachments were organized in great haste
and it was not yet known exactly what work they were to do. Advantage
 was taken, no doubt, of the experience gained in the Japanese
 War in 1904, when the zemstvo detachments adapted themselves
 to the changing conditions, organizing large, permanent
hospitals far in the rear, field hospitals and canteens along the
routes of the reinforcements and of the convoys of sick and
wounded, as well as first-aid stations at the front. In 1914 the field
detachments were equipped in a manner which would ensure a maximum
 of adaptability to rapidly changing conditions.
The staff of the first detachment was composed of two representatives
 of the Zemstvo Union, three doctors, and thirteen male

® See report of Central Committee of December 9, 1916, referring to the
refusal of the Executive Committee to continue the management of the hospital
 trains, pp. 1-9.
' See below, p. 68.