Maltese Military Hospitals during Gallipoli Campaign

[momsirish]

Thanks Ivor I also checked the  website  " The hospital was commissioned in 1912 as a replacement for the then ageing Valletta Hospital. It was used during World War I under the name of St. George's Hospital to hold injured Australian and New Zealand troops from the failed 1915 landings at Gallipoli. British author and V.A.D. nurse Vera Brittain was stationed there in 1916 and 1917 and described her time there in her seminal work Testament of Youth. It may not have been much of a Hospital at that point, but demand was high and it was convenient for the Mtarfa naval cemetery. It was expanded enormously during the Second World War. "   I think Vera Brittain's book might be interesting.

[ivor evans]

Hi.

Yes i agree that is what the article says. But i do not think it was necessary an exclusive ANZAC hospital.As HMHS Soudan..http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMHSSoudan.html    was a Casualty clearing station. any casualty needing repatriation to Malta from it's area of operation,would be dealt with on board.when it docked in Malta. It is possible that casualties would have been ''sorted'' but i have a feeling that it would have been unlikely, i suppose it may have depended on seriousness of wounds etc, i would envisage a''walking wounded'' may have been sent to a different place to a stretcher case.

As i live on Malta.i know the imtarfa building. The National War Museum, Fort St Elmo might be a source of info. but you must realize many of the records may have been destroyed in WW2.

[ivor evans]

hi. are you aware of this site.looks interesting.https://www.facebook.com/Gallipoli-1915-180766336685/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10150258907446686

 

 

 

ivor

Edited 23 November , 2016 by ivor evans

[Lawryleslie]

21 hours ago, ivor evans said:

hi. are you aware of this site.looks interesting.https://www.facebook.com/Gallipoli-1915-180766336685/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10150258907446686

 

 

 

ivor

When I opened up the link I was amazed to see the Document, Collingwood Battalion Royal Naval Division, that I posted to this FB site in 2011  prominently displayed. 

[ivor evans]

Hi.

remarkable.i linked it as i had not seen any reference to it in the thread and as momsirish is looking for someone in collingwood Btn. i thought it may be of some use. i think it a very comprehensive and useful page.

[momsirish]

The pictures of the HMS Soudan makes it an impressive hospital ship and gives me hope that he may have been treated there on the way to Malta if that is were he was sent.  I was told he may have been sent to Alexandria as well.   I'll look into it more after the first of the year 2017.   He survived and died in the Bandaghem CCS in 1918 so he had to have been treated fairly well if there actually was an arm amputation. 

[Lawryleslie]

On 27/11/2016 at 18:56, momsirish said:

The pictures of the HMS Soudan makes it an impressive hospital ship and gives me hope that he may have been treated there on the way to Malta if that is were he was sent.  I was told he may have been sent to Alexandria as well.   I'll look into it more after the first of the year 2017.   He survived and died in the Bandaghem CCS in 1918 so he had to have been treated fairly well if there actually was an arm amputation. 

There is an excellent book by Lyn MacDonald called The Roses of No Man's Land. It is an account of the medical services during WW1. There is a chapter on Gallipoli that makes harrowing reading including the hospital ships and the lack of sufficient and inadequate medical care on them, particularly during the early days of the campaign.

Edited 4 December , 2016 by Lawryleslie

[Ghazala]

52 minutes ago, Lawryleslie said:

There is an excellent book by Lyn MacDonald called The Roses of No Man's Land. It is an account of the medical services during WW1. There is a chapter on Gallipoli that makes harrowing reading including the hospital ships and the lack of sufficient and inadequate medical care on them, particularly during the early days of the campaign.

Thanks for that.  It prompted me to get my copy of the book from my bookshelf, dust it off, and give it another read.  I once had dinner in Ypres with Lyn MacDonald and some of the Great War vets she was writing about.  A lovely lady.

[momsirish]

I have to say thanks for that as well.   I look forward to getting that book and will check to find the book as soon as possible.   I have not had an opportunity to mention that I recall reading the War Cabinet Report on Pensions for March or June 1917 and it reported on an exhibition for Rehabilitation of Amputees.   It really gave an insight into how caring the hospitals for Limb fitting of amputees treated and assisted the training of amputees before these discharged veterans returned to civilian life.   Roehampton Hospital was I believe the largest hospital doing that at the time.   Some of the five hospitals also recorded a monthly list of graduates from their training programs.   These lists included the names and regiments of the released veterans.   The five hospitals were located in Scotland, Wales England and Ireland.   I'm banking on that information making the reading of Lyn MacDonald's  chapter on Gallipoli a little less harrowing now.   The three day Blizzard in that November 1915 was fairly harrowing reading in the War Diary.l.

[petestarling]

I gave a lecture on a cruise liner on Malta as the Nurse of the Mediterranean during the first world war and these are my notes that I found through various records and the official medical history of the FWW.

 

At Imtarfa the new hospital was not ready so 300 beds in nearby barracks were made available in April 1915 for VD cases and eventually rose to 1853 beds for dysentery and infectious diseases. The barrack hospital eventually closed in February 1919

St Georges Barracks was taken over and converted to a hospital in May 1915 available for slightly wounded and at its maximum had 1412 beds. It closed down in October 1917.

Pete

[pagius]

Many photos of St Patrick's Hospital  (with names)  here ...  http://agiusww1.com/mary-muscat-2/   

[Phil Sutters]

Two of my great-uncles were in Malta during WW1 - one as a patient, invalided out of Gallipoli with frostbite and one as a Royal Navy Sick Berth Steward. Apart from three photographs I have no further information, I am not sure whether Percy Pritchard is in the Christmas group, but as an amateur photographer he may have taken the photo. He is standing on the right in the smaller group.

Although Harry Sutters, on the right in the bottom photo, is shown as a Sick Berth Attendant, by the time he was serving in Malta he was a Sick Berth Steward.

Edited 17 November , 2018 by Phil Sutters

[seaJane]

Great pictures Phil, thanks

[Ghazala]

Loved those photo’s Phil.  Thanks.

......

 

A very moving book.  In 'A Nurse at the Front' Edith Appleton relates an incident from No.3 Casualty Clearing Station in 1915. There were so many wounded and dead, and an orderly was trying to sort them for burial according to religion etc. 'Then he found a fresh difficulty - one man, who he thought was an officer, had nothing to mark him as such. 'And 'ow am I to bury. 'im? As a' officer - or man?' Sister said, 'Surely they all get buried the same?' 'No they don't,' said the bewildered corporal, 'Men is 'ammered - officers is screwed.' Poor sister, who was worn out as well as everyone else, suddenly went hysterical and laughed and laughed ...