Medicine on the Western front 1914-18

Question 1

When was the Battle of the Somme?
How many casualties occured to British forces on the first day?

Answer 1

July 1916
600,000

Question 2

Why were trenches zig-zag shaped?

Answer 2

To contain shrapnel blasts and confuse tunnellers from enemy forces

Question 3

What was the order of trenches?

Answer 3

Front line trench > Support trench > Reserve trench
(with communication trenches inbetween)

Question 4

What were some features of trenches?

Answer 4

Six or seven feet deep
Built up around the sides with parados - mounds of earth - to protect from shell explosions behind trenches
Firing step - for rifles to fire into No Man’s Land

Question 5

What is the order of the Chain of Evacuation?

Answer 5

Stretcher-bearers > Regimental Aid Post > Dressing stations > Casualty Clearing stations > Base hospitals

Question 6

What was performed at Regimental Aid Posts?

Answer 6

Basic first aid

Question 7

What happened at dressing stations?

Answer 7

Triage, having collected men from horse-drawn ambulances/stretcher-bearers

Question 8

What happened at Casualty Clearing Stations?

Answer 8

Surgical and medical treatment, some x-ray units

Question 9

What were base hospitals often originally?
What did many of them turn into?

Answer 9

Schools and churches
Specialised hospitals e.g. for gas attacks

Question 10

What did the FANY do?
What were they trained in?

Answer 10

Worked in field ambulances, ran mobile soup kitchens/bathing vehicles, hospital canteens
First aid, signalling, and driving

Question 11

How was trench foot caused?
How was it treated/prevented?

Answer 11

Standing in flooded trenches for too long
Treatment - if gangrenous, amputation
Prevention - whale oil and changing socks several times a day

Question 12

What was dysentry?
What was it caused by?

Answer 12

Diarrhoea and dehydration
Latrines and dirty water

Question 13

What was shell shock?

Answer 13

Psychological response to death, destruction, and military bombardment
Characterised by shaking, blindness, hearing loss, mental breakdown

Question 14

When was chlorine gas first used?
What did it cause?

Answer 14

April 1915 (1st Battle of Ypres)
Suffocation - irritation of throat and eyes

Question 15

When was mustard gas first used?
What did it cause?

Answer 15

July 1917
Blistering, burning, and breathing difficulties. Also stuck to clothes

Question 16

Trenches did not expose the body, but the did expose the head. What did this cause?

Answer 16

Shrapnel injuries - tearing through flesh, embedding into brain. Skull fractures and other injuries

Question 17

Why was infection so common in trenches?

Think: where were they often built?

Answer 17

Trenches were mostly built on farmland, so fertiliser made trenches waterlogged and thriving with bacteria
Bodies were also left to decompose in there
Latrines (holes used as toilets) also spread bacteria

Question 18

What infections were caused by trenches?

Answer 18

Gas gangrene, sepsis, tetanus

Question 19

Methods to fight infection were undeveloped at the start of WWI. What were some of these methods?

Answer 19

Anti-tetanus serum, amputation, bandages soaked in carbolic acid

Question 20

What was irrigation?
Who first carried it out, and when?

Answer 20

Flushing antiseptic into wounds before closing them
Henry Dakin, 1915

Question 21

How many mobile x-ray units did the British have?

Hint: not many

Answer 21

14

Question 22

What was the Thomas Splint?

Answer 22

A splint strapped around the leg to avoid internal damage in those with a fractured femur

Question 23

Why was the Thomas Splint so significant?

Answer 23

By 1918, only 20% of people with a fractured femur died on the front line

Question 24

What technique replaced direct blood transfusion?
Why was it limited?

Answer 24

Syringe-cannula technique - blood was taken directly from a donor using a syringe and transferred into the person who needed it
Blood could clot in the syringe

Question 25

The first anti-coagulant was discovered in 1914. What is an anti-coagulant?

Answer 25

A substance that stops blood from clotting outside the body

Question 26

Who pioneered the creation of the blood bank?
Which battle was it set up in preparation for?

Answer 26

Captain Oswald Robertson
Battle of Cambrai 1917

Question 27

During the 3rd Battle of Ypres, it rained every day, except…

Answer 27

three