Medicine on the Western Front

Question 1

When did WW1 start and end?

Answer 1

1914-18

Question 2

Learn the diagrams for trenches

Question 3

Name and explain all he different types of trenches

Answer 3

Frontline trench- where attacks where made from

Support trench- trench behind the frontline trench. Troops would go here if frontline was under attack

Reserve trench- where reserve troops could organise a counter attack in the frontline was captured by he enemy

Communication trench- ran between other trenches to pass on information

Question 4

What are dugouts?

Answer 4

Holes in the side of trenches where men could take cover

Question 5

What is the area between two opposing lines of trenches called?

Answer 5

No-man’s-land

Question 6

Name the battles in order

Answer 6

1914: 1st Battle of Ypres
1915: 2nd Battle of Ypres
1916: the Battle of the Somme
1917: the Battle of Arras
1917: the 3rd Battle of Ypres
1917: the Battle of Cambrai

Question 7

Give a summary of the First Battle of Ypres

Answer 7

.In the autumn
.Germans launched an attack on British in Ypres, Belgium
.Lost tens of thousand of troops but kept in control of Ypres meaning they kept in control of the English Channel ports

Question 8

Why were the ports so important for Britain to keep control of?

Answer 8

So that supplies and reinforcement could reach them from Britain

Question 9

What was hill 60 and how was it a success for the British?

Answer 9

Hill 60 was a man made hill that the Germans had captured. It’s height gave them an advantage. The British used mining. They tunnelled under the hill and blew the top of Hill 60 off so British could retake the high ground.

Question 10

What is a salient?

Answer 10

A narrow area of a battlefield where an army has pushed its front line forward into enemy territory so is surrounded on many sides by enemy.

Question 11

What was the importance of the 2nd Battle of Ypres?

Answer 11

It was the first time the German’s used chlorine gas on the Western Front.

Question 12

Why did the ground in Arras being chalky benefit the British?

Answer 12

It was easy to tunnel through. The British linked the existing caves and tunnels around Arras to act as shelters against German attacks.

Question 13

How successful was the Battle of Arras to the British?

Answer 13

Not very. They advanced 8 miles but there were nearly 100,000+ British casualties

Question 13

What of importance was used in the Battle of Cambrai? What problem did they overcome?

Answer 13

Tanks. Overcame problem of barbed wire.

Question 13

Where was the Third Battle of Ypres and why was it not much of a success to the British.

Answer 13

Passchendaele
The weather was bad- rain made the ground waterlogged.

Question 14

What were the benefits and problems of Horse-drawn ambulances?

Answer 14

Benefits:
.did not break down

Problems:
.could not cope with the number of casualties
.it would shake a lot which could make injuries worse

Question 15

What were the benefits and problems with motorised ambulances?

Answer 15

Benefits:
.smoother journey meant injuries were not made worse
.a faster way to transport injured soldiers

Problems:
.broke down in muddy conditions

Question 16

Other than horse-drawn ambulances and motorised ambulances how else could patients be transported?

Answer 16

By train or by canal barge (long boat)

Question 17

Name some features of ambulance trains

Answer 17

.had spaces for stretchers fitted in carriage
.some had operating theatres
.more comfortable journey

Question 18

What was the problem with stretchers and stretcher bearers?

Answer 18

.sometimes had to work in night and couldn’t see route
.injured outnumbered stretcher bearers
.had to get passed barbed wire and bd conditions with risk of getting killed themselves

Question 19

What was trench fever spread by? How was it prevented?

Answer 19

Lice
.disinfected clothes and bedding
.soldiers picked lice of clothes and ran seam with fire
.
.

Question 20

How would trench foot develop? What could it turn to if untreated and if so what would you have to do?

Answer 20

Waterlogged trenches
Gangrene -> amputation

Question 21

By 1915, what measures were put in place to prevent trench foot?

Answer 21

.encourage to rub whale oil on foot
.ordered to change socks twice a day but not always possible

Question 22

What was shell shock called before it was diagnosed way after the war?

Answer 22

“Not yet diagnosed. Nervous”

Question 23

What was most responsible for wounds?

Answer 23

high-explosive shells and shrapnel were responsible for 58 percent of wounds

Question 24

What is aseptic surgery?

Answer 24

Surgery where microbes are prevented from getting into a wound in the first place, rather than being killed off with antiseptic

Question 25

How did shells work?

Answer 25

When a shell exploded, it killed anyone close by. It also scattered shrapnel that meant anyone in the way would be wounded.

Question 26

What was the solution to infections from bullets or barbed wire?

Answer 26

Anti- tetanus injection at the end of 1914

Question 27

What was the solution to shrapnel and bullets to the head? How successful was it?

Answer 27

In 1915, the metal Brodie helmet was introduced reducing fatal head wounds by 80%

Question 28

How did chlorine gas kill?

Answer 28

By suffocation

Question 29

What was phosgene?

Answer 29

A gas withe affects similar to chlorine gas but acted faster

Question 30

What was mustard gas?

Answer 30

An odourless gas that caused blisters inside and outside of the body. It can use burn skin through clothes.

Question 30

What was the RAMC?

Answer 30

Branch of army responsible for medical care.

Question 31

What was FANY?

Answer 31

The first women’s organisation to send billy terra to Western Front to support medical services e.g driving ambulances and providing emergency first aid

Question 32

What were the Regimental Aid Posts? What was the limitation?

Answer 32

Located around 200m of the frontline to treat wounded men who would either walk themselves in or be carried in.

Could not deal with serious injuries.

Question 32

Who did the Dressing Stations car for?

Answer 32

Men too seriously injured to be cared for at the RAPs. Walked or were carried.

Question 33

What were casualty clearing stations?

Answer 33

Trainees doctors and nurses helping patients of 3 groups (triage): severely wounded, walking wounded, hospital cases- transported to hospital

Question 34

What were base hospitals and what were the limitations?

Answer 34

Located on the coast so that men could easily be transported back to Britain. Continued treatment that became in casualty clearing stations.

Took a while to get to. By then patients condition might have worsened

Question 35

How would they treat infected wounds?

Answer 35

Wound excision- cut away infected tissue around the wound then close it by stitching

Amputation

Question 36

True or false:
They had x-rays on the western front

Explain

Answer 36

True
They would have static x-rays in Base Hospitals and large casualty clearings stations
There were only a very few amount of mobile x-rays used

Question 37

Name 3 problems with blood transfusions and the solutions to each

Answer 37

1)Blood had to be immediately used or would clot -> portable blood transfusions kit and a blood bottle to control flow of blood to stop from clotting

2)Not able to store blood -> 1916: added citrate glucose to blood to allow it to be stored for a month

3)The patient’s body did not always accept the donor’s blood -> discovered type O blood could be safely transfused into anyone with reduced risk of rejection

Question 38

What were surgeries like in the 20th century?

Answer 38

Aseptic:
.medical staff washed hands before entering operating theatre
.rubber gloves worn
.air was sterilised

Question 39

What percentage of wounds were to the head, face and neck in the British sector?

Answer 39

20%

Question 40

What were the problems withs brain surgery?

Answer 40

.infection was still a problem
.very few doctors with experience of neurosurgery

Question 41

What did Harold Gilles do?

Answer 41

started facial reconstruction (plastic surgery?

Question 42

What did Harvey Cushing do?

Answer 42

.Used magnets to remove fragments of metal from brain
.Used local aesthetic rather than general aesthetic because brain swelled in general aesthetic increasing risk

Question 43

What did Hugh Owens invent and what did it do?

Answer 43

Thomas splint
Pulled the bones lengthways to stop them rubbing on each other. Prevented blood loss too.

Question 44

What were the survival rates of leg fractures from before and after the Thomas splint?

Answer 44

20%- 80%