western front

• trench warefare on the western front


  1914-1918

  the allies (Britain, France and Belgium)

  area called western front
• July 1916, Battle of the Somme:


  British attacked Germans, by November, it ended with over 500,000 dead on each side.
• Battle of the Somme


  - first day 60,000 British casualties

  - 20,000 were killed

  - only 174 medical officers treating many casualties in the first week

  - many died because they had to wait for days before being treated
• 1971


  - mines used at Arras and Ypres to break through the enemy

  - aim was to avoid losses like those in the Somme

  - make it easier for an infantry to attack the enemy trenches
• medical care


  - army tried to improve medical care

  - lots if casualties of the somme overwhelmed staff

  - 1917 more medical posts were set up to prepare for casualties on Ypres Salient
• Third Battle of Ypres


  - July-November 1917

  - over 200,000 casualties

  - 379 medical officers

  - treated quicker than the Somme
• april 1917


  - germans retreated to the Hindenburg line
• November 1917


  - battle of calamari

  - allies broke its defences with tanks, but they lost this ground again

  - there were about 45,000 british casualties - fewer than at the somme
• prior to the battle of calamari


  - blood bank set up Captain Robertson

  - easier to save lives with a readily supply of blood
• Trench design and construction

  
• Trench design cgp

  
• Saps


  Small trenches that went past into no man's land
• Front line trench


  Front line trench had 2 trenches.

  1. Fire trench - facing the enemy.

  2. Supervision trench behind the fire trench used to move along the line.

  
  

  step-shaped sections (fire trench) or zig-zag sections (supervision trench) separated by traverses -> stopped enemy infantry from firing along the trench and contained explosions from shells in small areas.
• support trench


  60-90m behind front trench -> protected it from bomb shellings that were aim at the front line.

  Connected to front line trench by communication trenches -> so soldiers could retreat to support trench. the support trench reinforced the front line
• communication trench


  connected to the trench lines to each other and to locals roads and army depots behind the line
• reserve trench

  - 350 to 550 meters behind front line

  - made from dugouts or lines of trenches

  - reinforcements waited here so they could encounter enemy attack
• underground warfare


  - both sides tunnelled under no man's land to reach enemy trenches

  - dangerous for tunnellers --> could be buried + suffocate + meet enemy

  - less costly that normal attack through no man's land
• tunnel network under Arras


  - built by allies in 1916

  - extended existing caves, quarries and mines

  - had electricity, accommodation and a hospital

  - in april 1917, it hid 24,000 men before the battle of arras

  - tunnels dug up to the german line

  - lots of ground was won on first day of battle

  - over 15,000 casualties (british)
• Battle of Messines


  - june 1917 Ypres Salient

  - 19 mines blown under the german line

  - 10,000 german soldiers died

  - two mines used to destroy hill defences

  - hill 60 and the caterpillar
• transportation


  - motor vehicles

  - horse drawn vehicle

  - used to move supplies toward the from the 'supply dumps'

  - terrain was destroyed due to shelling tho
• railways


  - important for moving supplies and troops around behind the front lines

  - not always near the front

  - e.g 1917 built a light railway network very useful
• evacuating wounded men


  - very difficult

  - slow process

  - stretcher bearers after had to carry casualties

  - through communication trenches
• RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps)


  - moved casualties away front front line

  - field ambulances set up mobile medical stations

  - they transported:

  teams of stretcher bearers

  horses, wagons and carts

  motor ambulances
• Chain of evacuation


  - efficient system for wounded due to large numbers of casualties

  Frontline - RAP - MDS - CCS - Base Hospital
• RAP (Regimental Aid Post)

  - few metres from the front line

  - gave immediate first aid, supervised by Regimental Officer

  - not able to deal with serious injuries sent to ADS
• ADS: Advanced Dressing Station

  - 400 metres from RAP

  - located in tents, dugouts or large buildings
• MDS: Main Dressing Station


  - 1 mile behind ADS

  - collected injured men from RAP
• CCS (Casualty Clearing Station)


  - collected soldiers by ambulance

  - located in buildings such as factories and schools, often near a railway line.

  - Patients would be "triaged" (sorted) into 3 groups: the Walking Wounded, Hospitalisation, and Fatally Wounded

  - treated for up to 4 weeks

  - had mobile x-rays
• base hospitals


  - take up to 400 patients

  - turned into specialised hospitals

  - x-ray departments

  - could send them back to britain

  - e.g. battle of arras hospital had an operating theatre and could take 700 men
• FANY


  - women had trained in first aid

  - veterinary skills, signalling and driving

  - mainly worked on field ambulances

  - ran a mobile soup kitchen

  - mobile bathing vehicle

  - ran a hospital canteen

  - concerts for troops
• ambulance convoys


  - Calais convoy

  - St. Omer Convoy
• bad conditions of the trenches


  - cold weather --> frostbite (1916-1917)

  - trench foot --> gangrene ( amputated to stop infection)

  - dysentery --> caused diarrhoea and dehydration

  spread quickly due to dirty water and toilets

  - presence of vermin (rats, lice, maggots and flies)

  - trench fever and typhus spread by body lice

  - link noticed in 1918
• Lachrimatory gas


  - from 1914

  - tear gas

  - cause inflammation on the nose, throat and lungs and blindness

  - disabled soliders
• musturd gas


  - from july 1917

  - caused blisters, burning and breathing issues

  - could cause blindness and lung infections

  - take 5 weeks for victim to die

  - gas clinged onto clothes
• Chlorine gas


  - april 1915

  - first deadly gas used

  - slowly suffocated its victims
• Phosgene


  - december 1915

  - suffocation

  - mild sent

  - colourless

  - symptoms take 24 hours
• emotional trauma


  - soldiers exposed to death, destruction, bombs

  - caused shell shock

  - symptoms: tiredness, blindness, hearing loss, shaking and metal breakdown

  
  

  shell shock:

  - explosion shocked CNS causing brain damage

  - emotion disorder caused by the traumatic trench environment
• Machine guns and rifles


  - caused gunshot wounds

  - bruises

  - fractured bones

  - organ damage
• trenches --> wounds


  - protects the body

  - head exposed

  - shrapnel was embedded in the brain

  - brain damage

  - concussions from shell explosions

  - poisoned by carbon monoxide
• Brodie helmets


  - 1915

  - better chance of surviving