From A Fatal Passion
'One of the most important aspects of these preparations was the organization of a large and efficient ambulance service. Almost all of the traditional relief organizations in Russia, such as the hospitals and the Red Cross, were financed and supported by the imperial family...Ducky was one of the first to put together a modern ambulance outfit...before long Ducky found herself the head of a huge mobile health-care system. She 'threw herself wholeheartedly into nursing and her motorized ambulance unit was one of the most efficiently run services in Russia.' 'The task which she undertook required hard work and great thoroughness to make it function smoothly in the changing and difficult circumstances...' [wrote Kyril] 'She helped in making her motorized ambulance work one of the best run auxiliary services in Russia. It worked with great regularity and was absolutely reliable, at a time when these characteristics, owing to our total unpreparedness, were, alas, conspicuously lacking in manyh of the various branches of our armies....Unlike many others who were playing at Red Cross nurses [this seems a slam at Alexandra--tacky

] she had chosen hard and practical work, and on several occasions had carried out her duties under the enemy's fire.'
At the front, near Warsaw, Ducky regularly visited the battle lines...everywhere she went, she won praise. When her Red Cross train arrived at the supreme commander's headquarters at the front, General Kodzerovsky watched her with admiration, remarking that he was 'quite impressed by her energetic looks.'
The carnage kept Ducky constantly busy...Ducky worked day and night among the wounded and the dead. The ordeal proved perfectly designed for her iron will and courageous character. She toiled without reluctance or complaint."