 It began with 16 women and one man, but after a few days, it grew to 135 members and soon came to number 17,000.Its mission was to obtain money, weapons, provisions, and information for the combatant men and to care for the wounded.By March 1928, some 10,000 women were involved in the struggle, with many smuggling weapons into combat zones by carrying them in carts filled with grain or cement.