WORK IN THE ARMY 209 
fate befell a flying squad of the Third Detachment and the detach- 
ment of the zemstvo of Bessarabia. 
Distribution of Field Detachments. 
The distribution of the field detachments over the various fronts 
was not even. Two detachments worked in Trans-Caucasia and 
Persia; seven, on the northern (German) front; nine on the south- 
western front; and thirteen on the western front. 
In the beginning the detachments operated quite independently 
of each other, dealing directly with the Central Committee at Mos- 
cow. Gradually, however, they were made to follow the instructions 
of the Union’s committees of the front, so that by the autumn of 
1915 they were already under their absolute orders. Special de- 
tachments of a lighter type were sometimes organized in the war 
zone to carry the wounded from the trenches and render them first 
aid. They were usually known as field ambulances and depended for 
supplies on the army depots. Field ambulances were organized in 
thirty-four units, as follows: eleven on the northern front, ten in 
Trans-Caucasia, nine on the western, and four on the southwestern 
front. The field ambulances carried the wounded soldiers as a rule in 
light two-wheeled vehicles on springs, drawn by a team of horses. 
Much work was also done by motor cars adapted for ambulance 
service, and a certain number of these cars usually formed part of 
the equipment of every detachment (the Seventh, for instance, had 
thirty-two such motor ambulances). Special automobile convoys 
were also organized, each consisting of twenty cars for the transport 
of the wounded, five light cars for the medical staff and adminis- 
trative officers, two lorries, one car with repair machinery, and five 
motorcycles for the use of road scouts. Wherever the roads were 
good these automobiles were found of the greatest use. An efficient 
body of drivers composed of students from the technical colleges 
made it possible to operate the motor ambulances even on poor 
country roads, which at first sight might have seemed discouraging 
and almost impassable. In the deep sands and marshes of White 
Russia, however, and especially during the heavy rains in the spring 
and autumn, automobiles often proved useless. 
In Trans-Caucasia and in the Carpathians it was found necessary 
to transport the wounded on horses. For the seriously wounded, 
stretchers would be suspended on two long elastic poles, the ends of