The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-01
FIELD AMbU[ANCES DO GOOD WORK
Wounded Collected While Fighting Is Still Raging.
 Caring for Injured

k A great many people have the idea thas the wounded are not collected or attended to until the battle is over. In modern warfare. however. wounded soldiers are
 looked after and carried away from the firing line all the time fighting is taking
 place. says London Answers. The diagram shows how this is done Behind each section. as 1t were, of the firing line there is what is known as a collecting station. From these stations stretcher bearers are continually moving
 to where the fighting is taking place. picking up the wounded men. and taking them out of the battle. Doctors accom- pany these sertcher bearers and attend | at once to any really urgent case as far
 as they possibly can, in the way of giv- ing stimulants or putting on temporary
 handages to prevent too great loss of 1 blood
 At the collecting station the wounded | men are again seen to, proper bandages | being fixed on. and any other necessary attention given. As soon as each man has had his wounds dressed he is placed in l an ambulance with others of his comrades | and driven as rapidly as possible to the dressing station.
 I The dressing station is at least a mile
 to the rear of the fighting. as a rule.
 Here surgeons are fin attendance with ev-
 cry necessary appliance for operations.
 and relief for the sufferers generally. Only really urgent operations. however.
 are undertaken at the dressing station, where a delay of few hours may mean all the difference between saving or los 1 ing @ life
 As rule, these dressing stations are
 houses or buildings; but if these are not handy a special operating tent Is erected
 as shown in the diagram.
 From the dressing station the wounded
 soldier Is taken to the field hospital, l where beds are provided for anything
 from loo to 200 patients. There. after treatment for a few days each soldier is
 either discharged as fit for duty again.
 Is his wound is only slight .or passed on l further to one of the Intermediate hos- l pitals nearer home.
 These intermediate hospitals arc actual hospitals in big towns, on the lines of communication of the army, and from there Tommy is drafted to the seaside
 base. and so to England for his final res | covery should his wounds entail a pro-
 longed stay in hospital. The trains that
 take Tommy to the seaside have to ac- l commodate 100 patients lying down. while hospital ships hold 20 beds
 l The correct name for the medical ar- l arrangements on a. battlefield Is the field | ambulance"
 Each field ambulance'' can acconrno-
 date about 150 patients and Is divided into three sections for the sake of faoili- tating work. A field ambulance has personnel of 251. of which number from l 10 to F men are officers. The rest ara stretcher bearers. nurses and attendants. The transport of a field ambulance is
 large and usually consists of 22 vehicles of various sizes, including 10 ambulances, and close upon loo horses.
 I It is naturally not unusual for the horses engaged in this humane work to be wounded and temporarily disabled at times. and so, as a rule. there is place set aside at the sea base for the treat ment of these dumb friends.
 There are skilled veterinary surgeons in attendance here, and everything which science can do Is done to relieve them of unnecessary suffering or alternately to put them speedily out of their misery. War ambulances as we know them to- day were first formed in the fifteenth cen tury by Isobela of Castle. but the French were the first to organize and de- velop the Idea.
 Now in this year of grace 1s1l they have been brought to as high a state of perfection and usefulness as they will probably ever be.
 1 In war of such magnitude as we are I now experiencing. this is perhaps one ct
 the most encouraging of thoughts