Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-10-01

4
up the fighting strength OF an arm,
This was noted at once by tn
keen and watchful eye OF the Germa
, general staff: and with that strang,
rcmorseless. inhuman logic which ha
made the German psychology both
puzzle and horror to the civilize
world. It has proceeded to repeal an,
refuse to recognize the age-old i'm
munities Of the profession OF the ar
OF healing. Instead Of respecting tn
doctor and the wounded and thei
memoried symbol. the Red Cross. the,
have announced that one doctor is I,
be regarded as the equivalent Of fiv
hundred common soldiers. and on
strctchcr- bearer as the equal Of eigh
fighting men and have instructed thei
sunncrs and snipers and airmen I,
act accordingly. Fire one warning sho
and then vigorously engage them a
once" is the language of the officia
order.
The wounded are no longer object:
Of pity to the enemy. but future
fighting men: doctors and nurses art
no longer ministers OF mercy. but con-
servers o the battle strength Of the
enemy. 1t has even been reported thai
the Y.M. &C. A. has been placed upor
the list of combatants, because It's act.
ivities aid In keeping up the morale and
fighting spirit of the army. All OF
which Is perfectly logical and sweetly
reasonable, II you happen to be Ger
man instead OF human.
or course real doctors and real nur-
ses don't care a rap about these chang
ed conditions provided that they can
get good results for their poor wounded
They were much more unhappy In the
early days Of the war. before their
operating theatres were right up al
the front and two-thirds of the hor-
rible infected shell wounds suppurat-
ed, In spite of every thing they could
do. while tetanus and gas gangrene
Tcre almost everyday experiences,
Then the genius of Carrel pointed out
that no matter how huge and gaping
the wounds might be. and how cram
med full of infection from the soil
they were. II they were thoroughly
cleansed within four to eight hours
Of the time that they were inflicted,
and literally "scalped' OF every par
ticle Of dead or dying tissue-even
though this involved tho cutting
away Of perhaps three quarters Of a
pound of flesh-and then skillfully
irrigated with an antiseptic solution
free chlorine. the wounds
would heal painlessly In a third OF the
usual time. The doctors and nurses
then moved up under fire and went
and unconcernediy about
their beloved work while the shells
whistled overhead and the Boche air
planes bombed the hospitals almost
every night.
One OF the first hospitals which
visited in France was that Of the Har-
ward unit. not far from Boulogne,
which had gone over there before
America went into war. They were in
n tented and hutted camp-hospital
Of about two thousand beds. section
Of the largest hospital aren in the
world or In history, totalling at that
time nearly thirty-five thousand beds.
II was a literal city of the wounded
covering half a county. visible twenty
miles away from high flying airplane
and plastered all over with huge red
crosses. and absolutely unmistakable
as q hospital area. It was over 80 miles
behind the firing lines. There were
no batteries. no troops, no fortiflca-
tions or entertainments within scores
of miles Of it, except q small rest
camp and q training camp for conval.
escents two miles away. The German
airplanes had made repeated attempts
to get at 1t but without success, and the
great hutted city was lulled into
fancied security under t::3 delusion
that perhaps the bosche was not as
bad, after all, as he officially proclaim
ed himself TO be.
Then America went into the war,
and within two months of my first
visit, a second Harvard unit and a
st. Louis hospital unit came over and
col i,-icin IN thto
great camp. Within a few weeks. as
soon as the Boche's omnipresent spies
had time to report to headquarters
that the Americans were really there,
two Hun aiimen circled over the sleep
ing hospital village one quiet night. To-
Gated the two American camps, and
then, taking a line straight across that
part Of the area in which they were
situated, swooped down at cloc, quar-
rers and showered a perfect rain OF
bombs in a storm belt right across the
whole village. Whirling in theii
rack. they came back and repeated
the performance.
Murdcrous as were their intentions
their net slaughter was mercifully
light. One bomb dropped in a nurs-
es' quarters. tearing out the eye Of one
woman, severely wounding another. and
slightly injuring several more. Others
dropped in or near hospital wards. re-
wounding score or so Of the wound
ed. but killing only small number.
But the largest number Of effective
or successful explosives fell directly
upon and among the tents Of the med
ical staff, and, when again visited the
hospital a month or two afterwards
was shown a great hole in the
ground in the middle Of the medical
quarters, where a huge bomb had
crashed into the tent Of an American
surgeon, exploded almost underneath
his cot where he was peacefully
sleeping, and literally blown him into
fragments. Another surgeon in the
next tent had a leg badly shattered
involving the knee joint that he had
to be invalided home. Seyera
other surgeons were wounded but
none seriously.
AS the German airmen planet
swiftly up from their last cannonadt