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 sec- 
ond half of the campaign the war censorship suppressed the publi- 
cation 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 inter- 
vals 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 detach- 
ments gave their first attention to the erection of bathing stations 
for the troops. These bathing stations varied greatly in type as cir- 
cumstances required. Sometimes they were commodious premises 
equipped with shower baths and other conveniences: at other times 
10 Igvestia (Bulletin), No. 9, p. 81.