western front

• No Man’s Land -Land between Allied and German trenches in WW1.
• Trenches - Long, narrow ditches dug during the First World War.
• Ypres Salient: Area around Ypres where many battles took place in WW1.
• The Ypres Salient:

  Germans had the advantage with being on the higher ground. Tunnelling and mines were used by the British at Hill 60.

  First Battle of Ypres - 1914.

  Second Battle of Ypres -1915.

  Third Battle of Ypres - 1917.
• The Somme: Battle of the Somme -July-November 1917.

  1st day of battle, 60,000 casualties and 20,000 died.

  In total, 400,000 Allied casualties and this put pressure on medical services on the Western Front.
• Arras: Battle of Arras - 1917.

  Before the battle, Allied soldiers dug tunnels below Arras.

  Tunnels led to rooms and included an underground hospital.
• Cambrai: Battle of Cambrai -1917.

  450 tanks used to advance on the German position, however, plan did not work because there was not enough infantry to support.
• impact of terrain on helping the wounded:

  Difficult to move around, + night, communication was difficult, collecting wounded from No Man’s Land was dangerous.

  Stretcher bearers found it difficult to move around corners and transport of the wounded was difficult because of this.
• Evacuation route:

  Survival depended on speed of treatment.

  Care improved as war progressed.

  1914 – 0 motor ambulances but by 1915, it was 250.

  Ambulance trains were introduced, as well as, ambulance barges used along River Somme.
• Stretcher bearers: Collect wounded, 16 in each battalion + 4 for each stretcher.
• Regimental Aid Post: Always close to the front line and staffed by a Medical officer selected those who were lightly wounded/needed more attention.
• Field Ambulance and Dressing Station: Emergency treatment for wounded.
• Casualty Clearing Station: Large, well equipped station, 10 miles from trenches.
• Base Hospitals: X-ray, operating theatre and areas to deal with gas poisoning.
• Underground hospital at Arras: Running water, 700 beds and operating theatre.
• RAMC: Involved medical officers and learnt about wounds never seen before.
• FANY: Volunteer nurses, who helped the wounded and also drove ambulances.
• FANY: First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. Founded in 1907 by a soldier

  who hoped they would be a nursing cavalry to help the wounded

  in battle.
• RAMC: Royal Army Medical Corps. This organisation organised

  and provided medical care. It consisted of all ranks from doctors

  to ambulance drivers and stretcher bearers.
• Triage: A system of splitting the wounded into groups according

  to who needed the most urgent attention.
• Ill health:

  Trench fever: caused by body lice and included flu-like symptoms including high temperature.

  Treatment: Passing electric current through infected area was effective.

  Prevention: Clothes disinfected and delousing stations were set up. Affected 0.5 million
• Trench foot: caused by soldiers standing in mud/waterlogged trenches. Treatment: soldiers advised to keep clean but worst cases, amputation. Prevention: Changing socks + keeping feet dry and rubbing whale oil into feet.

  Affected 20,000 in winter of 1914-1915.
• Shell-shock: caused by stressful conditions of war and symptoms included tiredness, nightmares, headaches and uncontrollable shacking.

  Treatment: Not well understood.

  Prevention: rest and some received treatment in UK.

  Affected 80,000 and some were shot!
• Weapons of war: Rifles: fired one at a time/loaded from cartridge case creating rapid fire.
• Machine guns: Fired 500 rounds a minutes. Pierced organs and fracture bones.
• Artillery: Bombardments were continuous, Artillery fire caused half of all causalities.
• Shrapnel: Caused maximum damage exploded mid-air above enemy. Killed/injured.
• Chlorine Gas: Led to death by suffocation. 1915, gas masks given to all British soldiers.
• Phosgene Gas: Faster acting than Chlorine but with similar effects. Could kill within 2 days.
• Mustard Gas: Odourless gas, worked in 12 hours. Caused blisters, burn the skin easily.
• Gangrene: When a body decomposes due to a loss of bloody supply.
• Shrapnel: A hollow shell filled with steel balls or lead, with gunpowder and a time fuse.
• The Thomas Splint: Stopped joints moving and increased survival rates from 20 to 82%.

  Reduced infection from compound fractures
• X-rays: Developed in 1895, X-rays used to diagnose issues before operations. But there were some problems: X-ray could not detect all problems, were fragile and overheat.
• Mobile X-rays: 6 operated on the front line, used to locate shrapnel and bullet wounds.

  Transported around in a truck and enabled soldiers to be treated more quickly.
• Blood Transfusions: Blood loss = major problem. Blood transfusions used at Base Hospitals

  by a syringe and tube to transfer blood from patient to donor. Extended to CCS from 1917.
• Blood bank at Cambrai: Adding Sodium Citrate allowed blood to be stored for longer.

  Blood was stored in glass bottles at a blood bank and used to treat wounded soldiers.
• Brain surgery: Magnets used to remove metal fragments from the brain. Local anaesthetic.
• Plastic surgery: Harold Gillies developed new techniques, skin drafts developed for grafts.
• Compound Fracture: Broken bones pierces the skin + increases risk of infection in wound.