Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-12-15
SCENES AMONG
GERMAN WOUNDED
IN THE HOSPITALS
(Associated Press Correspondence,

ASSOCIATED Press Correspondence)
Glejwitz. Germany. Nov 1s.-(By Cour-
Ter to Holland The hospitals of Glei-
witt and Cosel, filled mainly with
wounded from the battles before Ivan
gorod and Warsaw, present striking con-
trasts to those farther from the front,
which are not SO unattractlve.
Here are gathered men who were worn,
haggard and suffering long before they
were wounded. Many of them had not
removed their clothing for four or five
weeks, and had slept in mud and filth.
Water was scarce and food seareer. A
large number lay on the fields for a day
or two after being injured before feceiv-
ing medical attention. Followed then by
journeys of day or more In jolting
peasants carts and three or four days
nerve-racking riding on railway trains
until the base hospitals finally were
reached
These delays caused at least 90eo of
the wounds to become injected, making
the problems of the surgeons more diff
cult Every effort is made in the Ameri-
can hospitals to save as many limbs as
possipble regardless of the length of
time the patients must be kept. To the
correspondent of The Associated Press
were pointed out several men who, the
surgeon said, could have been discharged
days before if amputation had been re-
sorted to. But bone and skin grating is
| thought to be more humane. even though
ii takes longer. II is no reflection upon
the German sanitary arrangements that
the wounded suffer as they do. On the
western front conditions are better. The
wounded in France and Belgium como
back rapidly to. comfortable beds in field
| and base hospitals and receive speedy
treatment which heads off infection. The
wounded who are expected today or to-
morrow from the battlefields just across
the Russian frontier will be in far bet
ter shape than their predecessors be-
cause they have been wounded but a few
miles from Good German roads and a
few hours from clean hospital beds and
adequate medical care.
Only a few of the wounded will die.
Nearly all will recover eventually, al
| though recovery can not proceed, nor
broken bones knit. until suppuration
ceases. Many of them viii spend Christ
mas in the hospitals. Some can write
postcards, read the daily war bulletins.
| play checkers or even shuttle about the
wards and corridors. Almost all can eat
and the dietary prescribed for these seri-
| ously wounded soldiers would make
many an American physician gasp.
Dinner today comprised for each pa
tient two large slices of meat, several
large spoonsful of cooked sauerkraut,
several potatoes and spoonful of gravy,
all served in large bowl. Each man
gets a large loaf of rye bread daily
which he keeps beside his bed to cut
from whenever he is so inclined Food is
served in one form or another five times
a day. Not all the wounded, but most
of them, get this dietary, which was laid
down for the American surgeons by Ger
man experts familiar with the needs OF
the German soldier.
The Americans have been most wei
come guests in Gleiwtz and Cosel and
their presence is appreciated not only by
the medicinal and army authorities, but
by the civilian population. At Glewitz
the president of the district court, on
service with the troops, turned over his
villa and servants to the American sur
geons for a residence. The nurses are
quartered at the hospital. Surgeons and
nurses at Cosel have been furnished
quarters at the hotel.