sector of the western front

• battles of Ypres (1914)

  • this is where the French, British and Belgians stopped repeated attempts to take the city. Both sides then dug their trenches after this battle
  • second huge German effort to takes Ypres. First use of wide spread poison gas in WW1
  • British and allied effort to push Germans back. British dug tunnels under German position and put mines in it. 10 of thousands killed.
• Battle of Somme (1916)

  • British lost 60,000 (20,000 dead) on first day alone.
  • First use of tanks (not effective)
  • Largest British Attack in WW1
• Battle of Arras (1917)

  • 150,000 killed, wounded and captured.
  • Built underground tunnel network under Arras including hospital where men could be treated
  • Could shelter 25,000
  • Allies suffered 160,000 casualties
• Battle of Cambrai (1917)

  • No artillery bombardment
  • Used tanks effectively (450 tanks)
  • First use of blood bank
• RAMC (ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS)

  • moving casualties away from the Front to be treated
  • Set up mobile medical stations
  • Stretcher bearers carried casualties through a series of posts until they reached a medical post
• stretcher bearers: 


  -basic medical supplies : bandages & morphine

  -four men to a stretcher, sometimes 6-8 due to thick mud-16 bearers in a battalion (up to 1000 soldiers)

  -often under fire

  -often not enough of them
• FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Corps)

  • Women trained in first aid, veterinary skills, signalling and driving
  • Worked as field ambulance moving wounded men between base hospitals , medical posts , trains etc...
  • They had many roles such as running a mobile soup kitchen, mobile bathing vehicle , staffed hospitals and run hospital canteen
• trench foot

  • condition caused by standing in flooded trenches for too long.
  • skin and tissue on the feet broke down and it becomes infected
  • used amputation to stop the infection from surrounding
• dysentery

  • caused diarrhoea and dehydration
  • dirty water and unhygienic (latrine) toilets helped disease to spread
• trench fever / typhus

  • trench full of vermin that spread disease like lice, maggots and flies
  • spread by body lice takes up to 12 weeks to recover
• gas attacks

  • tear gas caused inflammation of the nose , throat and lungs
  • chlorine gas - first deadly gas
  • mustard gas - cause blindness and lung infections
• shell shock


  when an explosion shocked the cns causing brain damage and emotion disorder

  tiredness, blindness, shaking and mental breakdown
• Chain of evacuation:

  1. stretcher bearers
  2. regimental aid post RAP
  3. dressing stations (ADS & MDS)
  4. casualty clearing stations (CCS)
  5. Base hospitals (general or stationery hospital)