Historic Environment-The Western Front

FIRST Battle of Ypres, October- November 1914

The British managed to hold on to Ypres which was vital in maintaining access and control of the English Channel ports, but the Germnas gained ground.

Battle on Hill 60, April 1915

The British tunnelled into and under the hill and exploded 5 mines from the tunnels which enabled them to take the hill.

SECOND Battle of Ypres, April-May 1915

The Germans made very slight gains towards Ypres. The battle was notable as being the first time Chlorine gas was used. It was first used by Germans.

The Somme July- Nov 1916

Notable for extremely high casualties on both sides, the battles on both sides of the river Somme saw 2 new strategies by the Birtish- the creeping barrage and the first use of tanks- but these had little impact.

Arras April-May 1917

In 1916, the British linked and expanded the underground tunnels, quarries and caves for the Shelter and movement of troops. The tunnels were used to launch the battle which was initially successful but ended with little progress and high numbers of casualties on both sides.

Cambrai, Nov-Dec 1917

This Battle was notable for the first arge-scale use of tanks, which were successful but wern't backed up so the British were forced back.

THIRD Battle of Ypres, July- Nov 1917

The British used a creeping barrage to make small gains to break out of the Ypres Silent. The awful weather left the Ground Waterlogged and many drowned.

Diagram:

Constant Shelling so land was full of craters and holes, with roads destroyed which led to transport problems.

Land was largely used for farms and so the fertiliser would spread infection in wounds.

1914- The BEF didn't have any motor ambulances with them on the front line. Horse drawn ambulances couldn't cope.

Oct 1914- 512 ambulance wagons were purchased through donations to transport wounded soldiers by the red cross.

Motor vehicles could not operate in the mud so horses continued to be used with 6 horses needed to pull a wagon.

Wounded transported by train or canal in final stage of evacuation to base hospitals.

Of 200,000 wounded men to one CCS 58% were injured by shells and shrapnel.

60% injuries were to arms and legs.

39% of wounds from bullets.

TRENCH FOOT: Painful swelling of feet caused by wet/cold, leading to gangrene and decomposition of tissue due to lack of blood supply.

TO PREVENT:

• Rub whale oil onto feet.
• Keep feet dry and change socks regularly.
• Amputation of leg to stop spreading.

TRENCH FEVER: Flu like symptoms with high temperature, headache. Affected 500,000 soldiers

TO PREVENT: Set up of delousing stations.

SHELLSHOCK: Tiredness, headaches,nightmares,loss of speech, mental breakdown, affecting 80,000.

TO PREVENT: Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburugh treated 2,000 for shellshock

Metal from shrapnel would penetrate their body.

Gas Gangerene produced gas in the wound. When wounds were exposed to soil infection was likely, this could kill a person within a day.

Anti-tetanus injections from 1914.

Headgear at the start of the war was a soft cap, but due to head injuries.

 A Brodie helmet was introduced in 1915 with a steel helmet with a strap for extra protection. 

REDUCED HEAD WOUNDS BY 80%

Used from 1915 and 6,000 British Soldiers died from Gas Attacks.

CHLORINE:

• First used by Germans in 1915 in Ypres.
• Led to death by suffication.
• No experience in dealing with it so had to trial.
• Gas masks issued in July 1915.
• Britain used their first Chlorine gas attack at the Battle of Loos but the wind changed direction and blew the gas back.

PHOSGENE:

• First used 1915 near Ypres.
• Efeects like Chlorine but faster acting - killl within 2 days.

MUSTARD GAS:  First used in 1917 by Germans and was odourless so worked within 12 hrs causing blisters and could pass through skin.

REGIMENTAL AID POST- RAP Close to the  Frontine. The Regimental Medical Officer was helped by stretcher- bearers in administering first aid. He sent more serious injuries onto the next stage.

DRESSING STATIONS- Not unusual to only have one dressing station, locsted in abandoned buildings in order to protect from shells. Tents sometimes used and staffed by 10 medical officers, orderlies and stretcher bearers from the RAMC and in 1915 nurses were available.

CASUALTY CLEARING STATIONS- Large and well equiped, were located in buildings several miles from the frontline and were staffed by doctors and nurses who prioritised treating life-threatening injuries to men who had a chance of survival.

BASE HOSPITALS- Situated near ports on the coast. They had many medical staff including doctors that specialised in certain treatments. Patients could stay for some time before returning to the front or being sent hme by ship for further treatment.

XRAYS: 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen covered a test tube in black paper and found that rays from the tube lit up a screen. He experimented and found that these rays could pass through many objects, inluding human flesh but couldn't pass through a bone. He put photographic paper between the tube and his hand to create the first x-ray image.

Within 6 months hospitals were using the first Xray machines to identify for eg if a bone was broken and where it was broken.

BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS:

• From 1915 Pioneered by Lawrence Bruce Robertson. He used a Syringe and tube to transfer blood to a patient to stop them from going into shock through blood loss.
• 1917- Blood transfusion was a common procedure asministered for shock.
• Geoffrey Keynes designed a portable blood transfusion kit to be used on the frontline.
• Blood could not be kept fresh and so he added a blood bottle to regulate flow to prevent clotting. - Method used in 1915.

Aseptic Surgery: Amputation to stop spread of gangrene-1918 240,000 Men lost limbs.Wound excision- Cutting away dead or damaged tissue from the wound. Done quick to stop spreading.

THE THOMAS SPLINT:

Dec 1915- The Thomas Splint was widely used and reduced the death rate from broken limbs to fewer than 20%. This was because the splint kept the leg rigid which reduced blood loss. 

MOBILE XRAY UNITS:

X-rays were essential in locating bullets and shrapnel before operating. Static machines were used in base hospitals from 1914 and in some Casualty Clearing Stations. Mobile units were used closer to the front and their numbers increased as the war went on. Their images were still not as clear as those of static machines but still prevented many deaths.

ADVANCES IN SURGERY:

The number of brain injuries during the war led to the development of new surgical techniques and improved the success rate. The large number of facial injuries led to huge improvements in plastic surgery, led by Harold Gilles who worked at the Queen's Hospital in Kent.