Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-06-17
MARV'|E|IS ARE
PERFORMED BY
ARMY DOCTORS
Whole Divisions Of Men Re-
stored to Fighting Strength
in France.

French Front, May 25.-(Corre-
spondence of the Associated Press. y
Marvels are being performed by the
surgeons attached to the various en-
tente' armies. BY exercising their
skill they have restored to the fighting
strength Of the allied nations each
year since the BEGINNING of the war.
whole divisions of men who in other
wars would have died of their wounds
CIR would have been crippled for life.
The recent gigantic battles. as the
result of which more wounded men
tina ever before nave received surgi-
cal treatment within a short space of
time, have demonstrated the immense
strides made not only in surgery but
in the methods of removing the
wounded from the battlefields and
transporting them to hospitals. So
effective is the cooperation between
surgeons and physicians at the front
and those at the hospitals in the rear
that an immensely larger proportion
OF the wounded recover than was the
case at the beginning Of the war.
Men whose legs or arms have been
fractured by shells now ire restored
to their regiments In a minimum of
time. This is due mostly to the fact
that they receive prompt antiseptic
treatment and surgical attention
u VIVA AlIo
the stiffening OF articulation. Their
is rapid in the hospitals be-
hind the lines where they a be
treated under comfortable conditions
far from the nerve-racking sound Of
the guns.
Soldiers have been inspired with
confidence in the army surgeons in
the great battles around Verdun and
in the great German offensive which
began in March.
Promptness in the treatment Of
wounded men has been obtained by
s%egregating them in classes according
to the nature of their wounds. This
was not generally done at the begin
vogue was to erect large hospitals as
near the fighting lines as possible, say
ten or twelve miles from the front,
and to send all cases there for treat
ment. When big battles occurred
these hospitals were over-crowded
and owing to the delay in operating
there were many cases Of gangrene.
tetanus and other infections that re-
suited fatally.
The enemy did not hesitate to
lombard the hospitals either with the
artillery or from airplanes. Some
times a trainload OF wounded men
would arrive only to find all the beds
occupied and that they must move on
to another hospital.
Most Of this difficulty now has been
overcome. When wounded men reach
the first dressing station or field am
bulance they are divided into cate
gories. Those slightly wounded are
rapidly dressed and sent to conval-
escent hospitals. Those crippled are
sent to cripple depots. Men who have
been gassed go to special hospitals
and those most dangerously wounded
are transferred to hospitals nearby to
remain until they or die.
Those suffering from severe but
not dangerous wounds receive prompt
treatment in the advanced ambu.
lances where operations are per.
formed and wounds disinfected before
the men are sent to permanent hos
pitfalls.
BY these divisions Of the wounded
into classes, it is asserted, hat grea,
rapidity of surgical Intervention i:
achieved as each specialist deals only
with cases needing his kind Of skill
Then the patient is removed to the