THE DOCTORS OF ANZAC

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2716, 10 March 1916, Page 3

THE DOCTORS OF ANZAC

-6 PAGE FROM A SPLENDID CHAPTER WITH THE FIELD AMBULANCE ON GALLIPOLI ( ■ ' 1 OPERATIONS TJNDER FIRE. (From Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with tlie N.Z. Forces.) "Dressing stations should be established out of the fire zone, beside a road, and near a good water supply. —The Book. •'By Jove, that was a beauty—right into the dressing station!" The speaker was one of the "oldest inhabitants of Anzac." He had been "in the landing." Being "in the landmeant that the hall-mark or all tho military virtues had been stamped upon you. It was. as if an American cousin had said: "My people came over in the Mayflower." It also meant that you wero by this time—it was towards the end of 'June—somowlmt of a connoisseur in the matter of the arriving shell. You knew when it was advisable to duck for cover, also when it was not worth 'while ducking. You knew this by the music of the difforent shells that came screeching at vou or over I you from north and south and east. "Startling Annie 1 ' and "Beachy Bill," ! firing higli explosive or shrapnel, generally arrived ahead of, tho music they made in the air, and if you wero wise vou would get into your dug-out • and stay there as long as they, were busy. Out there is a fascination ill watching the shells dropping into a crowd of bathers, many of whom go on bathing ; or into the ordnance stores and the dug-outs along the waterfront, where the bees in the Anzac liivo as a rule clustered thickly. On this particular occasion wo_ were standing on the terrace, watching "Beachy Bill" at his deadly work. Blankets and boots had been flying in tho air; a bather had got it literally "in the neck," and blood was streaming down over his chest, as ho staggered shorewards to where the plucky stretcher-bearers were already waiting for him. A cook in his dug-out had been killed instantaneously. Then "Beachy" had lengthened his range a little, and the hospital got it. It was the great burst of sand and smoke and bits of tarpaulin that had called forth the remark of admiration from "the oldest inhabitant." But 0110 might as well begin at the beginning and not anticipate. Now that Anzac has become for us but a memory, there can be no harm in telling the full story.' In the Beginning. The N.Z. Field Ambulance, whidh landed on a shrapnel-swept beach on the afternoon of April 25, 1915, and promptly opened a small dressing-sta-was the first medical unit of the Dominion that ever went into action. It arrived off the beach at 10 o'clock in the morning while the bombardment by the ships on the one hand and the enemy's guns on the other was at its height. Almost immediately . four bargos_ filled with wounded arrived alongside the transport, and the military officer in charge insisted upon sending them on board with the troops that had not yet landed. The saloon was at once converted into an operating room, and awnings were fixed up on deck to shelter these first victims of shot and shell. All day tho doctors worked under these disadvantageous circumstances, not sparing themselves for one moment. During the afternoon the bearer subdivision went ashore and climbed the shrapnel and bullet-swept hills in search of the wounded. The country was rough, precipitous, scrub-covered, and devoid of roads, so transport cpnl.l not be used. Snipers, well hidden in the ilex-clothed hills' and dales, were everywhere active. Often—as stated by the colonel in charge in an article published in the "British Medical Journal" —the only way to get a wounded man in was to wait for a short lull in the firing, then run out and pull him by the feet into such scanty, cover as was available. Some of the wounded lay in inaccessible places. The stretchers cculd not bo got to them. In these oases the only thing to do was to roll thom, down a slopo after first aid had been given, trusting to luck that they might safely reach the bottom. To leave a wounded man out ill tho open meant certain death from shrapnel or from a stray bullet. Tho risk of increasing a man's injury had to be taken, and it was taken. Tho uncomplaining fortitude of these New Zealand and Australian wounded under such circumstancss was a feature of tho landing that should be treasured in the annals of the British race. Tho stretcher-bearers oarned immortal glory. The tremendous amount of physical onergy displayed by these men was really phenomenal. During tho first throe days' fighting many of them made cach clay twenty journeys up and down tho hill. A journey frequently meant n two-mile walk over trackless, serub"overcd hills, and these colonial soldiers In tlio pink of condition w'hom tlioy had hi carry were no light-weights. They would average pretty well twelve stone. During the first two days the rush of casualties was so great that tho doctors in the hurriedly-devised dressing-station I'ad no time to keep <i record of tliem. Tho wounds wero quickly dressed, and tho patients hurried down to the barges and shippod away. Many of the wounded wero. hit again while being dressed, and others wore wounded once mo- n in the barges. The arrangements made by the Navy for getting ; them_off were,,

more than praiseworthy, juuior officers nnd seamen doing licroic work. Owing in their splendid co-operation with tho units ashore all the wounded brought ciown each day woro cleared by nightfall. Tho nights ivcro bitterly cold, but fortunately six bags of coal had liL-c-n taken oil shore, and tho medical men woro able to keep a lire burning in tlie dressing-tent, and to give such as came in later hot. drinks of cocoa find meat extract. By 1 o'clock c-n the Sunday morning nil the wounded who were behind our •ulvanced line had been got off. Tho tows were coming in with troops and going back with wounded. That,was a wonderful performance. There woro only two hospital ships—a number quite inadequate to meet tho unforeseen requirements of the battle. At that time, luckily, most of the shrapnel wounds wero slight. The Turkish gumiors we.ro bursting their shrapnel too high. On the Goslar, an old German tramp, there were 100 wounded. Some of the New Zealand Field Ambulance stayed on board looking after them till tho Tuesday morning. One section of the New Zealand Field Ambulance was taken in a destroyer jn the dark within 400 yards of the beach, and then rowed ashore in boats. It was bitterly -cold and raining, and in the darkness and the confusion it was difficult to find anybody and anything. Eventually a small corner of the beach was found with nobody on it, the equipment was piled up in a square, a tortoise tent sprefci over it, and a fire lit. Wounded were at once got in and given hot drinks. Their injuries were seen to under a fire' of dropping bullets and shrapnel. When dawn came, these .plucky ambulance men dug in as well as they could, and on that spot, which they had found in the dark, they remained for three months. Settling Down. During that time the accommodation was gradually improved, and finally it was possible to accommodate, in a shrapnel-proof dug-out, between 60 and 70 cases. A great difficulty at first was the absence of sandbags and timber. The work therefore had to be' done in a tent, which, in time, became riddled with shrapnel. For the first fortnight it was a case of working night and day. During that period between 4000 and 5000 wounds were attended to —all the time under shrapnel fire. This work was done by four doctors. Slight cases, attended to by the battalion doctors m the field, ivere not touched until the wounded were got on to the ships Ono section of the Field Ambulance was 'out on Walker's Ridge, one section was at the foot of Pope's Hill, and the third was in Mouash Gully, the headquarters section being on the beach. The last-mentioned had to act as a casualty clearing station as ".veil as a dressing station. Splendid work was done by the ser-geant-major who was in charge of the actual embarkation of the wounded, he and those with him being day after day under shrapnel fire. Quite a number of the wounded were hit while being taken from the clearing station to the boats, and also while being conveyed in the boats to tho ships. Men wero wounded and wounded again, and even killed. On May 7 forty-six bullets camo into the dressing station through the canvas roof. At this time the Anzac beach was very crowded, and after about a fortnight there wero more casualties on the beach than there were in tho trenches. Men wero shot just outside the dressing station, some inside it. In May the flies came, and it was impossible to do operations. On May 8 a Bearer Subdivision was sont to Cape Hellcs with the New Zealand Infantry Brigade and did vory fine work there. On May 11 tho Headqnarters Section got some sandbags and built, a big sandbag-wall on the exposed side of the dressing station. An incident that occurred on May 12 is worth recording. A man with 18 bullets came in, and Colonel Begg and Major . O'Neill, who wore resting in ft little shelter, went to see him. No sooner had they left their shelter than a high oxplosive shell burst in it and wrecked the whole placo. VVontlorful Donkeys. The stretcher bearers had captured a number of donkeys that had strayed awav irom the Turkish lines, and they used these for taking in many of the wounded. It was no uncommon sight to seo a wounded man ride into the tent and dismount right on to tho operating table. The wounded were always cheerful, and both New Zealnnders and Australians thought it great fun to ride in. on these donkeys. Men with smashed arms or shattered legs would ride down the gullies shouting and cooeeing on- these little animals as if they wero just coming in from a About this time a man who was carrying water to the firing line on Walker's Ridge was hit through both lega with shrapnel, iind one of the bullets made a hole in tho water tin. The wounded man was found lying down with his fingers stopping the liolo in the tin, while at tho same timo he was-shouting loiiKly for romoone to bring. another tin to save the wator. Water was very scarce. A't this time shell cases and eapeciallj shrapnel and other bullets taken by the doi'.tois out of wounds had become a medium of exchange, and tho men of tho Field Ambulance bought bread and other luxuries from tho sailors with them. On May 14 two fuses from Turkish shell that burst quite close came through the dressing hut. Dootors' Troubles. One groat trouble the medical men had to put up with was tho continuous noise of the firing of the warships' guns. The muzzles of the 12-inch guns were often pointing directly over ' the dressing station, and when a shot was fired tho conoussion invariably put out tho acetylene lamps. Towards the middle of June the shelling became worse, for. in addition _ to "Beuchy Bill" and "Startling Annie,'' a howitzer began to drop sheila over Plugge's Plateau. Tho operating tent becamo untenable. Two sholls landed in it, wounding somo of the orderlies. A start was then made to dig an underground operating jonm. On J'lOu 26 it was ready, and had been made flyproof. Heavy baulks of timber and from three to four feet of earth wers used for tho roof. The colonel was so pleased with it that ho thought he would sleep in it. .Next morning at 5 o'clock two shells hit tho roof _ and brought down a considerable quantity of the clay. A third landed just outside tho door and wrecked the fly-proof arrangement. Immediately' afterwards a fourth shell camo through nine feet of solid earth at tho side and' burst in tho interior, completely wrenking the dug-out. No patient was over treated in that operating room. The colonel was temporarily laid out with the gas. One fragment of shell had come through an 8 by 8-inch beam right over hisliead. Afterwards four hundred shrapnel bullets wero gathered from tlie operating room as tho result of the bursting of the first two shells. The shell that wrecked the placo was a 4.7-incli high explosivis. After this the dressing station was shifted to the seaward side of Walker's Ridge, just beyond a gully where the mules wore kept. Here the station wks ill comparative safety, tho shells going over the tent and bursting somo fifty yards away. This spot was one of the safest for us on the whole peninsula, and in six weeks only two men connected with the dressing station were wounded. On one occasion two 8-inch shell cases fell into the tent, but did iio damage. Tlie station remained thcro till the big advance in August, when it was moved further up the coast. By this time some British field ambulances had arrived, and these relieved the two Now Zealand and Australian aiiilmlaneos of the great strain that had been put upontheni during the first stages o? the fightiflg. ,Uj) to .this time the two.

colonial field ambulances had dealt with somo 16,000 cases. They continued to do excellent work under (ire right up to the time of the evacuation. All ar, rangements had been made to leave behind eome sections of these ambulances to attend to the wounded _ during the evacuation, our people having absolute confidence that they would be well treated when they fell into the hands of the Turks. Fortunately, owing to the marvellous success of the operation, their services were not needed, and they were got off with tho rest of the troops, leaving only "their tents behind them.