HANDLING THE WOUNDED

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 259, 20 July 1918, Page 9

HANDLING THE WOUNDED

SYSTEM IN MODERN BATTLES

A MEDICAL OFFICER'S EXPERIENCES

"The Evacuation of tho Wounded After j Threo Modern Battles" was tho subject. I of a leeturo given by Lieutenant-Colonel j M. Holmes, N.Z.M.C, beforo tho IVcl- | lington Officers' Institute last night. ColI onet Campbell presided. LieutenantColonel Holmes served with tho Now Zealand Forces .at Ciallinoli, and has since had experience iiV France. The lecturer dealt first with the evacuation of tho wounded early in August, 1015, after" tho attack on Chnniik hair. The arrangements on .this occasion had uot been satisfactory. Tho New Zea'landers had been working in a mixed division, and the brigade ambulances that should have been available were not fully available. . Some important details were still at Mndros, and the field alnbulances on the spot were much below strength. Nearly' every- member of the ambulance units, moreover, was sufferj ing from dysentery. Tho comforting j feature, of tlip situation was that the men j were experienced in handling wounded l under shell-fire. The whole area to .be dealt .with was under shell-fire, and ject to the attentions of snipers. Lieu- ' tenant-Colonel Holmes described tho congestion of wounded at an advanced post utter the attack on Chunuk Hair. Over ihre'e thousand 'wounded were gathered ! in ii partially-sheltered; gully, and some j of these men" were being killed by shell (a lid ritle fire. Beforo the end of fair days there were 10.0 CO or 11,000 wounded men on the beach. About 2000 yards out from the coast were five hospital ships. ' Bat a grave flaw in the arrangements vas the.luck of an adequate supply of small boats to "take . the wounded from. the beach to. tho ships. This lack caused the deaths of'many New Zealand soldiers. Tho wounded came under Turkish fire immediately, because the saps and lines were' much congested, and wounded j could, not be kept clear-of the combatant forces. The guns''and tho ambulances were mixed up,- and the Red Cross flags had to come down, because they were believed to serve as aiming marks for. tho Turks. Tho enemy gunners played the game well enongh when conditions permitted. There was a tent hospital at Suvla Bay, situated, about threo hundred yards from a heavy British battery, but no Turkish shell ever struck tho hospital. Lieutenant-Colonel : Holmes next described the evacuation of tho wounded at the battle of Homani, when the colonial troops broke a Turkish attack in tbo direction of the Sncz Canal. This bi'ttle was won almost unaided by tho Anzac Mounted Division, which captured four thousand Turks . at Mouiit Eoyston, inflicted heavy losses at Quatia, and a little .later drove the retreating remnant of the enemy from Bir-el-Abd. The total colonial casualties, were about 800, who were handled by the mobile mounted, ambulance. .Tho, railway extended beyond Homani, and there wae very little delay in evacuation. But some of .the fighting took place eighteen miles from tho rails, and many men had to be convoyed on camels. This system of. carriage was bad. Badly wounded men suffered''severely, and'the lesson of the experience gained at that time wns that a mobilo operation station should be es-tablished-.as near ds possible to tho fir-ing-line. . This involved risb and difficulty, but'it would savo lives. Delay in the treatment of head and body wounds meant fewer recoveries. In conclusion,; the lecturer "described "one of the moat successful bits of evacuation in tho history of war,"-at. the Battle of Messines. The New Zealand front was only about 800 yards wide, and was "divided for medical purposes into ; two parts, each part having an advanced dressing station. Tho medical corps had spent two and ft half months getting ready for the fight. The dressing stations were heavily sand-bagged ; tx> resist shell-fire, and tho regimental aid posts were also strongly built and generously supplied with necessaries. Tho' regimental aid posts had means of inter-com-munication,; and farther back was a retwork of trench 'tramways, which could l)e' used, to move the wounded. Behind : the advanced dressing stations were -depots for slightly-wounded me\i, main dressing station, casualty clearing stations, and bnso hospitals. The regimental, aid posts received the wounded, gave, first aid, sent them back to tho advanced dressing station-. The • organisation thus far was divisional. 'The corps' main dressing station and the'clearing stations were parts of tho army corps organisation. Every eap and junction had notices directing tho walking wounded and the bearon; to the stations. In caso tho barrage blocked communication with tho base, the advanced dressing station had threo days' supply of medical supplies, food and water for 5080 men. Every contingency.seemed to have been provided for. The arrangements worked without n hitch. The wounded wero in London the day they wero hit, and no more successful scheme of evacuation-could be <Inoted.