The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-06-15
SURGERY DOES
SOME MARVELS
Is Saving Whole Divisions
for the Entente
Forces
OTHERWISE MEN
WOULD HAVE DIED
Or Would Have Been Grip
pied for Life by Reason
of Wounds

French Front, june Is correspondence
of the Associated Press.l - Marvels are
being performed by the surgeons at.
tached to the various entente armies. BY
exercising their skill they have restored
to the fighting strength of the allied ma
tions each year since the beginning of
the war, whole divisions of men who in
other wars would have died of their
wounds or would have been crippled for
life.
The recent gigantic battles, as the re.
suit of which more wounded men than
ever before have received surgical treat
ment 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 bat
tlefelds and transporting them to hos
pitfalls. So effective is the cooperation
between surgeons and physicians at the
front and those at the hospitals in the
rear that an immensely larger proper
ton 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 are restored to
their regiments in minimum OF time.
This is due mostly to the fact that they
receive prompt antiseptic treatment and
surgical attention which prevents blood
poisoning and the stiffening of articula
ton. Their recovery is rapid in the hos
pitfalls behind the lines, where they can
be treated under comfortable conditions
far from the nerveracking sound of
the guns.
Soldiers have been inspired with conf
depca in ha ru,v Stiruoonc ~, {ba ovraot
battles around Verdun and in the greet
German offensive which began in March.
Promptness in treatment of wound
ed men has been obtained by segregating
them in classes according to the nature
of their wounds. This was not generally
done at the beginning of the war. The |
plan then in vogue was to erect large |
hospitals as near the fighting lines rs |
possible, say 10 or II miles from the |
front, and to send all cases there for |
treatment, When big battles occurred,
these hospitals were overcrowded and, |
owing to the delay in operating, there
were many cases of gangrene, tetanus
and other infections that resulted fatally.
The enemy did not hesitate to lombard !
the hospitals, either with the artillery
or from airplanes. Sometimes a train
Aodu VI Wouilutu luth WOuiu alive, OHtN
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 ambulance,
they are divided into categories. Those
slightly wounded are rapidly dressed and
sent to convalescent hospitals. Those
crippled are sent to cripple depots. Men
who have been gassed 60 to special hos
pitfalls, and those most dangerously
wounded are transferred to hospitals near
by to remain until they recover or die
Those suffering from severe but not
dangerous wounds receive prompt treat
ment in the advanced ambulances, where
operations are performed and wounds
before the men are sent to
permanent hospitals.
By these divisions of the wounded into
classes, it is asserted that great rapidity
Of surgical Intervention is achieved, as
each specialist deals only with cases
needing his kind of skill. Then the pa
tient is removed to the hospital at dis.
lance of not more than journey of 10 ,
Or II hours, where he receives attention =,
specialist working in close
TO operation with his colleague in the ad. /;
sanced ambulance.
This system of segregation of wounded !
and cooperation of doctors is said to !
nave produced marvellous results.