Turkish Army Medical Backpack
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1917-1929
notes: label: Description
content: Canvas and leather backpack containing first-aid supplies. On the outside of the back flap is a circular "Red Crescent" logo, symbol of the Ottoman Red Crescent Society. On the inside of the flap is a paper sheet with a list of contents in typed Turkish, "Sihhiye Cantasinin Muhteviyati" [Contents of Sanitary (Medical) Bag]. The contents are kept within the pack inside of compartmentalized, cloth pockets with string ties. There are also two folding compartments on the sides, holding rigid materials such as wooden splints. All of these compartments have labels in German. Contents include a rubber tourniquet; a sewing kit; numerous bandages, most in cloth packages tied with string; sealed paper packages of bandages: "3LUK KEMBRIK / SARGISI" [Cambric bandages].; a black, leather "red crescent" notebook with arabic print; thread; forceps; and splints. On one side of the pack, near the bottom corner, is a flap, behind which is a rectangular, metal box. The box-top is divided in two, with a hinge at the center. This case contains morphine packets, a syringe set; and five, empty glass bottles with labels in Turkish. Side drawer contains two ointment tubes: "Borsalbe / Hauptsanitats Depot / Berlin" [Boric Acid Ointment / Main Sanitary Depot / Berlin]. Some supplies in the kit come from the late 1920s such as: Individual bandage packets : "PIYADE HARP / PAKETI / 1929" [Infantry Warfare Packet, 1929], and on the back: ISTANBUL / Sıhhiye Transit Deposu" [Sanitary, or Medical, Transit Depot], and two (2) packs of ampules: "10 ADET / 18-EYLUL-1928" [10 Units, September 18, 1928], presumably one box is morphine and the other caffeine.
label: Description
content: The first aid pack was a standard WWI German Army medical pack altered for the Turkish Army.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Turkey
label: place made
content: Germany
topic: label: related event
content: World War I
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
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content: Military
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content: Modern Medicine and the Great War
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of the Government of Turkey
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-07166
label: catalog number
content: M-07166
label: accession number
content: 106236
objectType: label: Object Name
content: medical pack, military
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cloth, canvas (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 1/2 in x 15 1/2 in x 5 3/8 in; 41.91 cm x 39.37 cm x 13.6525 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall (in rehousing): 13 in x 27 in x 19 in; 33.02 cm x 68.58 cm x 48.26 cm