Joint aid workers loading a car onto a bridge

Many hands were needed to get this automobile across a river on a crude, damaged wooden bridge during a field trip to Rowne, Dubno, and Polonnoye. The Russian Civil War made travel through disputed territories difficult and dangerous. Even if cities and towns were reachable by train, relief workers had to travel to hundreds of isolated villages and to move quickly between them. Roads and bridges could not be counted on. Most motor vehicles of the day were open to the elements, required hand-cranking to start the engine, and reached a top speed of 40-45 mph. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (“the Joint”), sent relief workers as soon as entry to the war zone was possible. The photograph is from a relief worker's field trip into Poland (currently Ukraine).