Historic Site Flashcards
Summary
Britain, France, Belgium, Germany
Almost all in France, some in Belgium
Stalemate
War of attrition
Trench summary
Front line trench 8/32 days - fighting
Support trench 8/32 days - waiting to see if they needed to help
Reserve trench 16/32 days - recovery
Trench layout
Sandbags at head height with machine guns over Coil of barbed wire Step to stand on to fire Dug-out for shelter Several metres deep
Gun wounds
Caused by gun wounds
Caused broken bones, pierced vital organs, damage to head and eyes
Machine guns fired 500 bullets per minute
60,000 British had head/eye wounds
41,000 had limbs cut off
Gas attack
Chlorine gas- filled lungs with water
Phosgene gas- filled the lungs with yellow liquid
Mustard gas - skin burning/swelling/blindness
Chlorine used in 1915
Phosgene was 18x more deadly than chlorine, killed in 48h
Mustard used from 1917, killed 2%
1916- gas masks reduced gas deaths to 3%
Shelling/shrapnel wounds
Caused by iron sprayed by buckets from artillery guns
Torn limbs, iron
Shells travelled 19km, 1/2 of all injuries, exploded 4-5 metres above ground
Trench foot
Caused by trenches filled with water
Caused numb feet, lost blood flow, toes/feet amputated
Duckboards used to stay above water
Told to change socks regularly
Infection
Mud from bullet wounds
Green and bubbling skin wounds
Gangrene bacteria in the mud
Frostbite
Caused by exposure to extreme cold
Damaged skin/muscle tissue. Stops blood flow, leads to amputations
1917- 21,000 British soldiers had it
Trench fever (pyrexia)
Caused by biting due to lice
Caused headaches, pain, shivering for several days
15% of soldiers had it
Started to clean clothes more regularly
Shell shock (PTSD)
Caused by the aftermath of fighting
Causes anxiety, nervous tics, nightmares
1919- 50,000 cases
Regimental aid post and stretcher bearing
Stretcher bearers went onto the battlefield to recover injured men
Regimental aid post is where they were treated- dug-out
Stretcher bearers treated- bandages and morphine
Each battalion of 1000 had 16
Would send to dressing station for more treatment
Field ambulance, dressing station and triage
At least 1/4 of a mile away, run by orderlies or nurses
Had a dressing station to put on bandages or splints, would give more pain relief
Had a triage to group based on injury severity
Casualty clearing station
Several miles behind the front line (wooden huts/tents)
7 doctors, nurses, up to 50 men per station
Perform surgery, x-rays
Triage into 3 groups
1) less severe- base hospital 2) life saving surgery needed 3) beyond help, sent to moribund ward’ to die
Base hospitals
In an existing hospital or converted building, near railways
Operating theatres, x-ray machines and labs
Those with serious injuries went on a train to “Blighty” (Britain)
Those who recover have time to rest then went back
RAMC and nurses
All medical workers in the Royal Army Medical Corps
9000 men in 1914, 113,000 in 1918
1914- the only nurses who could treat soldiers were Queen Alexandra’s nurses, 300. 10,000 in 1918 plus 15,000 unpaid
Unpaid were part of VAD (voluntary aid detachment) mainly middle and upper class women
Vaccination
Injected people with a small/dead part of a disease to immunise
Needed for tetanus and typhus
32/1000 deaths in the first year were tetanus
Vaccinated in 1915
2/1000 deaths after
Plastic surgery
Repairing damages to the face from injuries
Needed to mend disfiguring injuries to the face
1915-7 French hospitals had specialist areas
Harold Gillies- Queen’s hospital in Kent
1917- 1000 beds, 2000 soldiers
Grafting skin, rebuilding noses with bones from ribs
Thomas splint
Two pieces of metal each side of the thigh bone to replicate the strength of the leg
Needed as 80% who broke their thigh in the first year died
1916- Hugh Thomas
Straps around the leg, bones would not grind and cause blood loss, nephew Robert Jones made sure it was used
Blood transfusions
Adding different parts of blood to be given
Could stop blood clots and replaced lost blood
Attempted since 1600s, rarely worked
1900 Karl Landsteiner discovered the 4 types
Arm-to arm at casualty cleaning stations
1914- sodium citrate stopped clotting - a pint could be stored
1917- portable storage machine developed
Portable x-ray machines
X-rays that could be done on the bottle field
Used to locate bullets and metal quickly and safely
Discovered in 1815
1914- few machines, too big to be used in trenches
Marie Curie developed the petit curie
Oct 1914, there were 20 1916- most casualty cleaning stations had them
Aseptic surgery
Used carbolic acid as an antiseptic under sterile conditions - Lister
Needed as it was difficult to ensure clean conditions
Carbolic acid, hydrogen peroxide
Cut away infected skin, soaked wounds in antiseptic
Cleaned wounds and sewed up
Wasn’t solved until antibiotics in WWII
Artificial limbs
Brain surgery
Limbs- some had moving limbs e.g. to stop gangrene
Brain surgery- x-rays located metal, transfusions allowed complex surgery. Harvey Cushing had a magnet to remove metal
