The Wounded at Colenso.

Manawatu Herald, 14 April 1900, Page 2

The Wounded at Colenso.

how the wounded were tended on the Battlefield. A corespondent of " South Africa " ?ives an interesting description of the field hospital in the battle of Gol^nso : Each battalion in action is provided with an attached officer of thov|toy^ Army Medical Corps, and uo<ssr his supervision the first aid to the w6usded is given on the field by what are cas|etL " regimental bearers." These latter consist of two men per company, specially trained by the medical officer ' in bandaging and minor surgery. The medical officer is accompanied by his; orderly, who carries the surgical haver- , sack (full of splints and bandages), and" the field companion (containing tourniquets, morphia, and such like immediate requisites of the surgeon). This " field companion " is known among the men as " the hairy companion," so called because it is covered with hairy cow hide. The soldiers themselves each carry a first-aid-to-the-wounded dressing stowed away in a small pocket specially built for this purpose in the skirt of his jacket, and every man is^|j| instructed as to the proper method ox^^ application of the bandages. This proved of tremendous assistance at Colenso, because the wounded fell so •

rapidly that the medical officer and his assistants on the field could not possibly immediately meet the. calls oi each man as he fell. The bandagea applied by the men themselves in many cases proved to be of the greatest use. Tommy's Beloved Pipe. Imagine a man, hit, we will say, with & bullet through the thigh bone, at noon. His thigh, being fractured, has been tightly bandaged to his rifle ; (which is in this case used as a long sptint, assisted by his bayonet and scabbard, well padded). This has been done for . him oy the medical officer during the action, and he has been safely left beneath a bush or stone fence. He sees the ambulance waggons gallopi ig about the field, but his turn does not come yet. Stretcher squads come before his vision in the near distance, carrying away his comrades. He manages to light his pipe with great difficulty, as he lies on his back tightly bound; he has emptied his water bottle unthinkingly earlier in the day ; the temperature is 102 degrees F. In the shade; his wound throbs and throbs, and the afternoon wean on— until at last his turn comes, and he reaches (either .by wagon or hftcd stretcher) the field hospital three miles away, where possibly it is necessary to at once amputate the limb. And yet these men did not lose courage. What did they fight for ? Many of them originally enlisted for the sake of a square meal. Does anybody think they fought on this day and longed to get back again to have it out with the enemy tor the sake of the one shilling thus earned? What was it, then, that inspired these men? There can be, only one answer— British blood and British pluck, the same now as always, and displayed under circumstances that probably never have been equalled in this century. The quick-firing guns mowed down almost *every gunner in one of the batteries before they could fire a shot from their own guns, and yet what do' we see? Nothing but anxiety on their parts that they may be able to get back again. 2,400 Transvaal Refugees Enlisted for Three. Days. The rapidity with which the wounded were removed from the field was particularly remarkable as compared with former wars of all nations. This was greatly due to the forethought of Colonel Gallwey, C.8., R.A.M.C., the P.M.O. of the Force, who enlisted 2,400 Taansvaal refugees at Durban and Maritzburg, for three days, as civilian stretcher bearers. This small army was placed under the command of unemployed regimental officers and did its work in most excellent manner, carrying the wounded in many cases ior six and seven miles. Another reason for employing this large body was on account of the rough nature of the country. The wounded, being carried by hand instead of jolting in the wagons, were thereby saved much pain and suffering. The usual Bearer Companies of the R.A.M.C. were of course in the thick of it, bringing in the wounded under a heavy fire after they had been dressed by the medical officers and left on the field. A " Dashing " Hospital train.The ambulance wagons also dashed about in all directions and became so zealous that one of them got blown up by a Boer shell, but fortunately it had not yet loaded up its wounded. One of the two hospital trains actually dashed into action and was filled direct from the field with 119 wounded (being unsuccessfully and, I think, unintentionally > shelled during the process). The train immediately dashed away from Estcourt stationary hospital and returned to the Field Hospitals before dark for another load. Sir William MacCorman and Mr Treves, the well-known surgeons, worked hard during the afternoon in the field hospitals, consulting and operating.