Men who were wounded, were passed back through a network of RAMC medical bases, until either they were recovered and returned to their battalion, were discharged on medical grounds, or died.

 

Regimental Stretcher Bearers and the Regimental Aid Post (RAP)

 

The network began with the stretcher bearers, who were known as ‘Regimental Stretcher Bearers’ and were non-combatants who belonged to the regiment itself; they were not part of the RAMC. They carried no arms, wore a red patch on their sleeve and had the arduous and dangerous job of retrieving injured men from the trenches or from the battlefield (No Man’s Land) itself. They would issue basic first aid – a wound dressing, perhaps a tourniquet and maybe some morphine, and then took the man to the Regimental Aid Post, known as the RAP for short, where a Medical Officer (MO) would give a little more aid but again this was very limited; perhaps they would give some more morphine, apply a better dressing or ligature a blood vessel if it threatened to bleed out.

 

The Field Ambulance and Advanced Dressing Station (ADS)

 

From there, the man would pass into the realms of the Royal Army Medical Corps; the RAMC. They would be collected from the RAD by the Field Ambulance, which was not an ‘ambulance’ as we know it today but a team of RAMC men with stretchers who would arrive, load up the casualties and take them back behind the lines, most often to the nearest Advanced Dressing Station (ADS). The ADS was normally a couple of miles behind the lines, and would be able to administer ‘advanced dressing’ of wounds and prepare the man for an onward journey to a Casualty Clearing Station (CCS).

 

The dugouts at Essex Farm Cemetery just north of Ypres, where the famous John McCrae worked and wrote his poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ was an ADS, and the cemetery was made up mainly of men who sadly made it no further than the ADS.

 

Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS)

 

Men who did survive were made comfortable, and transported to a CCS, which was a large ‘hospital’ often made up of (normally) white canvas tents. It was mobile, and often moved as the front or the fighting did. There were a large number (over 60) CCSs in France and Flanders during WW1. At the CCS, the man may stay for a few days, until either he was recovered or he was evacuated back further still to a Base Hospital (such as Calais) well behind the lines. Because of this, CCSs were located near to railway lines in order to transport the men back the many miles to the base hospitals.

 

At a CCS, men with treatable injuries or ailments could expect to receive medication, treatment, and operations such as amputations and other life saving procedures. Those men who arrived at the CCS and were deemed to be beyond the help of the RAMC were placed in the Moribund Ward, where they would receive no treatment other than to keep them comfortable (perhaps some morphine), and would eventually die. This treatment may seem severe but with so many injured men needing attention, it was necessary to spend time and supplies only on those men who would benefit from it; those who were likely to die anyway unfortunately were left to do so.

 

Most men who visited the ADS or the CCS recovered enough to be returned to their unit, and they would return to the front line as quickly as the RAMC could get them back on their feet. Those who were too badly wounded, and needed further or longer care would be transported by Ambulance Train back to a Base Hospital. The Ambulance Trains were normal trains which had been adapted to have bunks instead of seats, running lengthways along the carriages and often three high. Men would be loaded in, and each carriage was overseen by an RAMC nurse. Occasionally a train would have what was known as a ‘push load’; this was when the train was so full that some stretchers were ‘pushed in through windows’ and transported suspended by straps from the ceiling, somewhat like a hammock. This was dreaded by the RAMC and the effort required to keep so many men comfortable on a journey of sometimes many hours  should not be underestimated.

 

Base Hospitals

 

The Base Hospitals were large, normally permanent hospitals so far behind the lines that they were normally on the coast, such as at Calais or Etaples. Occasionally, they were in large buildings which had been commandeered by the RAMC such as schools or large houses and the men may stay here for some days. They were positioned so as to be easily accessible by train, but also close enough to a port that men who required to be transferred back to a hospital in Britain for a lengthier recuperation could be put on a ship easily.

Finally, severely wounded men, such as those who had undergone amputations, been very badly maimed, or injured in such a way that required a longer recuperation and recovery, along with mentally unstable men who were unfit for service were returned to Britain by Hospital ship. Upon arrival they were transferred to a hospital which could be anywhere in the UK, like Thomas Hendley who died from his wounds in Dundee, and is buried in Denaby.

 

Despite the fact that their wounds had been grievous, requiring them to return to Britain for a full recovery, many men did return to the front again, and continued to serve. Of the others, some sadly succumbed to their wounds, and some were discharged from the army, as they were now unfit for service.