Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Treatment of front line casualties


Mark Hone

Recommended Posts

I am in long range planning for my 2017 battlefields tour marking the centenary of Messines and Passchendaele. One of the key themes of the tour will be casualty evacuation and the treatment of wounds. Several of our old boys served as doctors ( e.g. MO of 2/5th East Lancs George Crawshaw won the MC for his bravery on 9th/10th October 1917) and the stories of two of the old boys who died ( Lt John Hartington MC and Lt Colonel Tom Boardman) will centre on casualty treatment. I am no medical expert but have quite a bit of material on the subject, such as the useful chapter by Dr Geoff Noon in 'British Fighting Methods of the Great War'. However, I would appreciate any additional input or pointers in the right direction. I had planned to speak to the University of Manchester team who recreated a CCS at Heaton Park but as related elsewhere I foolishly got the dates mixed up and missed the event. Sadly, Forum Pal Sue Light is no longer available to advise. 

Any help is as always much appreciated. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mark

If you can get hold of the Official History for the Great War, Medical Services, General History Vol 3 that will give you an overall account of the medical overview of how the medical set up worked for the period in question, 1917. Scotland and Heys published War Surgery 1914 (Helion) a couple of years ago and that will give you some good info, not too complicated, on how the casualties were treated at the CCS etc. There are a lot of other books around for the layman on basic casualty treatment such as Wounded by Emily Mayhew. Pity you are not closer to the Army Medical Services Museum, you could have popped in there. If you have other queries feel free to pm me and I will help if I can.

 

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

think (not entirely certain) that that volume is available via archive.org. 

 

Depending where you are in Lancashire, Mark, there are copies at the university libraries of Liverpool and (possibly) Manchester.

 

sJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Skipman put up links to all four volumes.

 

They open within an online reader but are available as pdf downloads which are text searchable (within limits of the OCR technology).

 

Crawshaw is mentioned in the 66 Division ADMS diary as a casualty 9/10/17 and his replacement, Capt. D M Spring took over 21/10/17. He is also referred to as Rawshaw - wounded 9/10/17 and as Crawshaw under 'decorations' 27/10/17??

 

And for eg  Lt Colonel Tom Boardman you'd want a full understanding of the evacuation process for the 8th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers??, 16th Division, 111, 112 and 113 field ambulances and which of the CCSs at Brandhoek he ended up at, presumably 32 as 44 didn't open until 10th Aug.

 

For Boardman alone you could be trawling through eight or so diaries for information but as a Lt. Col. it would probably be a worthwhile exercise.

 

Have you started compiling a list of units, divisions etc for the men in question bearing in mind they may have moved around? It would make your life easier if the individuals were grouped within a division or at least a corps.

 

TEW

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you very much, everyone. I already know in quite a bit of detail what happened to Boardman and Hartington ( who is buried at Lijssenthoek) after they were wounded, so am planning to follow them as far as possible up the evacuation chain. Boardman did indeed die at 32 CCS. He was definitely Crawshaw-he was a GP in Tottington, Bury for many years. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It emerged from a thread a few years ago that Boardman actually died at the Potijze Aid Post but his body was then taken further back and buried at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery. How common was this practice? Was it restricted to reasonably senior officers, perhaps?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Hi Mark

 

I am currently writing an article on the casualty evacuation process at Messines that will be available for download, free of charge, on my personal website - hopefully by May this year. You can Like my facebook page (linked from the website) if you would like to be notified when it is available.

 

http://www.pshistory.com/articles/casualty-evacuation-scheme-battle-of-messines-7-june-1917/

 

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Mark

 

I have a casualty evacuation map for the Battle of Langemarck 16 August 1917 if it could be of use.

 

Regards

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...