western front medicine

• Ypres Salient

  Area around Ypres where many battles took place in WW1
• Battles of Ypres


  1. First Battle of Ypres - 1914

  2. Second Battle of Ypres - 1915

  3. Third Battle of Ypres - 1917
• The Somme


  Battle of the Somme - July-November 1917
• 1st day of the Battle of the Somme, 60,000 casualties and 20,000 died
• In total, 400,000 Allied casualties in the Battle of the Somme, putting pressure on medical services on the Western Front
• Trench fever


  Caused by body lice and included flu-like symptoms including high temperature
• Treatment for trench fever

  1. Passing electric current through infected area was effective

  2. Clothes disinfected and delousing stations were set up
• Trench foot


  Caused by soldiers standing in mud/waterlogged trenches
• Treatment and prevention of trench foot

  1. Soldiers advised to keep clean but worst cases, amputation

  2. Changing socks + keeping feet dry and rubbing whale oil into feet
• Shell-shock


  Caused by stressful conditions of war and symptoms included tiredness, nightmares, headaches and uncontrollable shacking
• Treatment and prevention of shell-shock

  1. Not well understood

  2. Rest and some received treatment in UK
• Some soldiers with shell-shock were shot
• Weapons of war


  • Rifles
  • Machine guns
  • Artillery
  • Shrapnel
  • Chlorine Gas
  • Phosgene Gas
  • Mustard Gas
• Trenches


  Long, narrow ditches dug during the First World War
• Roles in helping the wounded

  • Stretcher bearers
  • Regimental Aid Post
  • Field Ambulance and Dressing Station
  • Casualty Clearing Station
  • Base Hospitals
  • Underground hospital at Arras
• Medical organisations

  • RAMC
  • FANY
• Thomas Splint

  Stopped joints moving and increased survival rates from 20 to 82%
• 1. rays

  Developed in 1895, used to diagnose issues before operations but had some problems
• Mobile X-rays

  6 operated on the front line, used to locate shrapnel and bullet wounds
• Blood bank at Cambrai

  Adding Sodium Citrate allowed blood to be stored for longer
• 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
• Triage


  A system of splitting the wounded into groups according to who needed the most urgent attention
• Compound Fracture


  Broken bones pierces the skin + increases risk of infection in wound
• Debridement


  Cutting away of dead and infected tissue from around the wound
• Gas Gangrene


  Infection that produced gas in gangrenous wounds
• Radiology department


  Hospital department where X-rays are carried out
• Blood transfusions


  Blood taken from a healthy person and given to another person
• General anaesthetic


  Putting a patient to sleep during an operation
• Local anaesthetic

  Area being operated on is numbed to prevent pain + patient awake
• The Battle of Arras in 1917 involved Allied soldiers digging tunnels below Arras, which led to rooms and included an underground hospital
• The Battle of Cambrai in 1917 involved 450 tanks used to advance on the German position, however, the plan did not work because there was not enough infantry to support
• The impact of terrain on helping the wounded included difficulty moving around, night, communication issues, and danger in collecting wounded from No Man's Land. Stretcher bearers found it difficult to move around corners and transport of the wounded was difficult because of this