Bandaging wound with a puttee?

[tankengine888]

Hello!

Having learnt my mistake from sandbag puttees, I actually cited the source in a google doc. 

Private Frank Goundrie, D Company 53rd Battalion was wounded at Fromelles. It was said that he had 5 bullet wounds in his right arm alone in the early stages of the attack . A Private Francis (S/N 1404) stated that 'I bandaged this man with a puttie(sic)'.
See the Red Cross report HERE

Despite those wounds, Goundrie went on to serve in the 2/AIF. See attached picture of him for those interested.

Now, I find it somewhat interesting that his wound was bandaged with a puttee- Are there any other examples of this?

Zidane

 

[Michelle Young]

I’m sure I’ve read of rudimentary splints made out of a bayonet and puttee. Practical, if not very aseptic to use a puttee as a bandage! 

[tankengine888]

Just now, Michelle Young said:

I’m sure I’ve read of rudimentary splints made out of a bayonet and puttee. Practical, if not very aseptic to use a puttee as a bandage! 

I do suppose it is rather a smart idea, but I've just had a thought- doesn't every soldier carry a First Field Dressing?

[Michelle Young]

They should, but I guess if the wound is in the area where the field dressing should be, no access. Maybe they used the field dressing on your man then also use the puttee? 

[ianjonesncl]

2 hours ago, tankengine888 said:

I do suppose it is rather a smart idea, but I've just had a thought- doesn't every soldier carry a First Field Dressing?

The more modern teaching around Battlefield First Aid often including the use of puttees when they were still in use (late 70s in my case.)

A soldier does carry a first field dressing, however if there are multiple wounds then more than one field dressing is required. Unless immediate medical aid is available, or other soldiers contribute their field dressings, improvisation is needed. The stemming of a wound with some form of pad secured by puttee to apply pressure on the wound could easily be improvised. Puttees could also be used to secure improvised splints if required. 

The priority is immediate aid to identify and treat life saving injuries. The cleansing of wounds takes second place to stopping bleeding. That consideration would take place in the medical evacuation chain.

 

[Interested]

Provided that iodine was put on the wound first, would a puttee be particularly risky (assuming the puttee was reasonably clean?)?

Just a thought.

[FROGSMILE]

On 01/02/2024 at 14:25, ianjonesncl said:

The more modern teaching around Battlefield First Aid often including the use of puttees when they were still in use (late 70s in my case.)

A soldier does carry a first field dressing, however if there are multiple wounds then more than one field dressing is required. Unless immediate medical aid is available, or other soldiers contribute their field dressings, improvisation is needed. The stemming of a wound with some form of pad secured by puttee to apply pressure on the wound could easily be improvised. Puttees could also be used to secure improvised splints if required. 

The priority is immediate aid to identify and treat life saving injuries. The cleansing of wounds takes second place to stopping bleeding. That consideration would take place in the medical evacuation chain.

 

Your excellent explanation is my understanding too.  I don’t think it was the least bit uncommon to use a puttee (aka puttie) to secure a first field dressing, a shell dressing, or an improvised dressing, in place.  It was also advocated (as previously mentioned by Michelle too) to use puttees to further secure in place a ‘Robert Jones’ design of splint, a technique that quite literally transformed splinting and led to a substantially marked increase in the survival of men with complex fractures.

“Jones was a British surgeon who practiced through the late 1800s and past the end of World War I. He learned about fractures from his uncle, and became one of the few surgeons of the time to be interested in fracture care. Until then, orthopaedics was focused primarily on correcting deformities in children. He received his FRCS in 1889. After being appointed Surgeon-Superintendent of the Manchester Ship Canal, he established the first comprehensive accident service in the world to take care of injured workers. He founded the British Orthopaedic Society in 1894, and introduced the concept of military orthopaedic hospitals during World War I. His innovations led to significant decreases in morbidity and mortality from fractures in the war, particularly of the femur.“

Edited 5 February by FROGSMILE

[Pete_C]

On 01/02/2024 at 10:46, Michelle Young said:

I’m sure I’ve read of rudimentary splints made out of a bayonet and puttee. Practical, if not very aseptic to use a puttee as a bandage! 

In this well known IWM photograph of Irish Guards’ casualties, a salvaged rifle and bayonet have been used as an improvised splint -  31st July 1917, Battle of Pilckem Ridge.

Pete

IWM Q5732

Edited 4 February by Pete_C

[Chasemuseum]

On 02/02/2024 at 03:18, Interested said:

Provided that iodine was put on the wound first, would a puttee be particularly risky (assuming the puttee was reasonably clean

Tetanus was the big killer.

The bacteria is active in the soil and passes harmlessly through the gut of many animals, horses in particular. But also humans!  The point is that on the Western Front, there was extreme risk that any soil contamination into a wound could result in a fatal tetanus infection. 

Unfortunately the anti-tetanus vaccine was not invented until 1924.

Iodine provided virtually no protection. 

Certainly blood loss and shock management had to take the first priority to achieve survival of the casualty, but infection control was critical and a major failing during the Great War.

 

 

 

[FROGSMILE]

On 04/02/2024 at 00:34, Pete_C said:

In this well known IWM photograph of Irish Guards’ casualties, a salvaged rifle and bayonet have been used as an improvised splint -  31st July 1917, Battle of Pilckem Ridge.

Pete

IWM Q5732

It’s really quite bad that that rifle-splint from the 1911 medical handbook was still being used in 1917.  It had been discredited quite early in the war and replaced by Dr Robert Jones’s invention** of a special frame splint.  The good doctor was sent out to France in 1915 to train as many medical staff as possible to follow the new policy.  See:

1.https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/thomas-splint/

2.https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/scotland.pdf

**subsequently named after him due to his advocacy of it during the war, but actually invented by his uncle some decades before.

Edited 8 February by FROGSMILE

[kenf48]

1 hour ago, Chasemuseum said:

Certainly blood loss and shock management had to take the first priority to achieve survival of the casualty, but infection control was critical and a major failing during the Great War.

George Coppard in his memoir With a Machine Gun to Cambrai writes of his wounding, "To stop the blood I bunged my thumb on the hole it spouted from. I was aware that I had broken the rules which said that wounds should not be touched by hand but my action stopped the flow like turning off a tap"

Basic first aid now, as in apply pressure elevate the wound etc but it would be interesting to see the "rules" he refers to.  They were no doubt intended to maintain infection control as referred to above.

He goes on to say, "The lance corporal rigged up my bootlaces as a tourniquet and lashed it round my thigh above the wound." He is then taken to the aid post on a duckboard carried by German prisoners

 

[Chasemuseum]

15 hours ago, kenf48 said:

the "rules"

Absolutely. That was all about infection control. Roll on 100 years, tetanus and other vaccines, anti-biotics, powdered anti-coagulants, rapid evacuation from the field to hospital facilities. The chance of survival following a major injury has increased dramatically.  The probability of recovery is so different that WW1 appears to be from ancient history. 

[Colin W Taylor]

I'm sure I've read that anti-tetanus injections were given after wounding during the Great War, normally early in the evacuation chain. Also mentioned in the link below.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22543225/

I can see if mention is made in any personal accounts.

Colin