The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-08-18
SANITARY SERVICE
DURING A BATTLE


The Medical Record quotes from
LIE caducee a description Of what the
sanitary service of battalion consists
of during an offensive campaign. Here
it is:
According to cheyrou. in LIE Cadu-
Gee for June 5. it was expected be-
fore the latest French offensive that
much would have been learned from
the Somme campaign in 1915. As a
matter of fact. but little difference
was to be noted, although there was
some Improvement in the rapid re-
moyai Of wounded to the rear. The
commander of the battalion informed
the author before the offensive Of the
point of departure of the attacking
waves, so that the site of the post de
secours could be appropriately
chosen. An excavation was prepared
and rooted in with planking and
sheet iron, the work being done by
the stretcher men. This shell PROOF
room was furnished with bench,
table shelves, etc.
"On the morning of the day OF at
tack the author was at his post vain
some musicians, who acted as emer-
gency stretcher men. Soon the regu-
lar stretcher men arrived with SUP
plies which included so called com
pass stretchers. small vehicles Tor
TRANSPORTING stretehers. dressings, and
Vincent's powder. just before the
attack, in the evening, the soldiers
were accompanied in their march by
orderlies with f1rst-aid dressings. the
author remained at the dressing post,
his task being to relay the wounded to
a central poste de secours In the rear.
"The auxiliary who accom- panied his
stretcher men was to: distribute them
as he saw fit. The author, at his post,
was accompanied by musician stretch
err men, who were to relay wounded
after they had been dressed. A rank
ing orderly registered the wounded as
they arrived and made out the attests.
A second subordinate. with motor
cycle. kept the chief battalion physi-
clan in the rear closely informer as to
the need of fresh men and supplies.
Those but slightly wounded at the
front were guided by orderlies to the
poste de secours, having received no
first aid dressings. After their wounds
had been dressed they were directed to
the rear by the relay men. AL OF
the other wounded received first aid
treatment on the spot in the most
sheltered places and the stretcher
men, informed as to their where
abouts bore them to the first poste de
secours.
After the troops had advanced well
beyond the first post the auxiliary
physician saw to 1t that an advance
ed post was established in a natural
Ior artificial shelter. The authors or
iginal post now functioned in part as
a base. With the further advance of
the troops, others were established,
while messengers, by a system of re-
ports, kept the new posts supplied
with stretchers. relay men, dressings,
&c.
.-The author acted as middleman
between the auxiliary physician at the
front and the chief battalion physician
at the rear To protect the wounded
and stretcher men as much as possible
a trench was cut from the poste de
secours forward. and the stretcher
men travelled along certain definite
lines, which illuminated in the So
called ravine. Some of this work was
done in advance of the battle, but
when new posts were needed the ex-
cavation must have been impromptu.
Apparently certain first treatment
was given after entrance into the
trench. Some stretchers were car
ried, others transported in wagonettes;
as a rule the wounded remained in
the stretchers, but were carried on
ward by relay men.
IN ain offensive those wounded by
machine-gun bullets show marked
preponderance. Shell fragment wounds
are correspondingly rare. Machine
gun fire may be so deadly as to cause
wide havoc.
In wounds of the head and chest
tincture of iodine was sprayed on; In
wounds of the abdomen ether is pre-
fefred and for wounds OF the extrem-
tiles Vincent's powder. The rule is
never to explore a wound at a dress
ing post nor to touch one with the
fingers. Nevertheless every attempt
is made to secure thorough disinfec-
ton by means of irrigation and in
sufflation. fractured limbs and in
ljured abdomens are tmmobiized.