The Western Front Flashcards
(35 cards)
1
Q
What happened in the first battle of Ypres? When was it?
A
- October-November 1914
- British held on to Ypres
- Was vital in maintaining control of the English Channel ports
- But Germans gained ground
2
Q
What happened in the battle on Hill 60? When was it?
A
- April 1915
- British tunnelled into and under the hill and exploded 5 mines from the tunnels - Enabled them to take the hill
3
Q
What happened in the second battle of Ypres? When was it?
A
- April–May 1915
- Germans made slight gains towards Ypres
- First time chlorine gas was used (by Germans)
4
Q
What happened in the third battle of Ypres? When was It?
A
- July-November 1917
- British used the creeping barrage to break out of the Ypres Salient
- Bad weather left the ground waterlogged and many drowned
5
Q
What happened in the Somme? When was it?
A
- July-November 1916
- Very high casualties on both sides
- First time for the creeping barrage and the use of tanks
- But they had little impact
6
Q
What happened in Arras? When was it?
A
- April-May 1917
- Year before British linked and expanded the underground tunnels
- Used to launch the battle which began successful but ended with little progress and many casualties on both sides
7
Q
What happened in Cambrai? When was it?
A
- November-December 1917
- First large scale use of tanks
- Were successful but not backed up so British were forced back
8
Q
What were some features of the trenches?
A
- 2.5m deep
- Built in a zigzag pattern
- Dugouts, holes in the trenches where men took cover
9
Q
How were trenches organised?
A
- Front line trench, where attacks were launched
- Support trench, 80m behind, where troops retreated if frontline was attacked
- Reserve trench, 100m behind support trench, where troops could be mobilised for a counter-attack if frontline was captured
- Communications trench, which ran between trenches
10
Q
What were the problems with transport and communication on the western front?
A
- Land often waterlogged
- Constant shelling left landscape full of creators and destroyed roads
- Was farmland, so lots of fertiliser in soil, meaning lots of bacteria that could infect wounds
- Horse drawn wagons were shaky and made injuries worse, also couldn’t cope with number of casualties
- Stretcher bearers exposed to shelling and gunfire
11
Q
What developments were made to the methods of transport on the Western front?
A
- Newspapers appealed for donations, 512 ambulance wagons were bought
- First motor ambulances in October 1914
- First ambulance training November 1914 arrived in France
- Later some trains had operating theatres
- Canal barges were also used to bypass base hospitals to take back to Britain
12
Q
What was some medical problems on the Western front?
A
- Trench foot
- Gas attacks
- Shellshock
- Trench fever
- Bullets and shrapnel
- Head injuries
13
Q
What was trench foot? 
A
- Caused by standing in waterlogged trenches
- Caused swelling of the feet
- Could lead to gangrene which was only treated by amputation
- Men rubbed whale oil into feet to protect them
14
Q
What is trench fever?
A
- Flu like symptoms that lasted for months
- Caused by lice so in 1918 troops were deloused and cases decreased
15
Q
What is shellshock?
A
- Symptoms included loss of speech, uncontrollable shaking, complete mental breakdowns
- Some were accused of cowardice
- Many evacuated British hospitals to be treated
- 80,000 British troops experienced shellshock
16
Q
What injuries did bullets and explosives called?
A
- Bullets could penetrate organs and fractured bones
- Shells and shrapnel caused 58% of wounds in a study of 200,000 men at CCS
- Bullets caused 39% of wounds
17
Q
What was Phosgene gas?
A
- First used at end of 1915 near Ypres
- Similar effects to chlorine but faster acting, killing within two days
18
Q
What is chlorine gas?
A
- First used by Germans in 1915 at the second battle of Ypres
- Lead to death by suffocation
- Used by British in 1915 at Battle of Loos but wind change direction and it blew back to British lines
19
Q
How were gas attacks dealt with?
A
- Medical services had no experience with gas attacks so had to experiment with treatments
- Before gas masks soldiers urinated on socks etc
- Gas masks given to all British troops in July 1915
20
Q
What is mustard gas?
A
- First amused by Germans in 1917
- Odourless gas that worked within 12 hours
- Caused internal and external blisters and passed through clothing to burn skin
21
Q
How were heading injuries prevented?
A
In 1915 soldiers soft hats were replaced by Brodie helmets
22
Q
What were the RAMC?
A
- Royal Army Medical Corps
- Founded in 1898
- Medical branch of the British Army
23
Q
What were the FANY?
A
- First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
- Founded in 1907
- First women’s voluntary organisation to send volunteers to Western front
- Driving ambulances and providing emergency first aid
24
Q
What were the stages of the chain of evacuation?
A
- Regimental aid post
- Dressing stations
- Casualty clearing stations
- Base hospitals
25
What are the features of the regimental aid post?
- 200m from the front line
- Staffed by a regimental medical officer with help from stretcher bearers
- Gave immediate first aid to get men back to fighting but could not deal with serious injuries
26
What were the features of dressing stations?
- Advanced dressing stations were 400m from the RAP
- Main dressing stations where another half a mile back
- Often located in abandoned buildings dugouts or bunkers
- The Field Ambulance worked here
- Each unit could deal with 150 wounded men
- Only had the facilities to care for wounded men for a week
27
What were the features of the casualty clearing stations?
- Located 7-12 miles from frontline
- Set up in buildings such as factories or schools and often located near a railway line
- Triage system – walking wounded, in need of hospital treatment, no chance of recovery
28
What were the features of base hospitals?
- Located near the French and Belgian coast near to ports so wounded men could go home to Britain
- Were less important until 1918 when Germans pushed back the front line and many CCSs were pushed back so base hospitals took over surgery
29
What will the features of the underground hospital at Arras?
- Waiting rooms for the wounded
- 700 spaces where stretches could be placed as beds
- An operating theatre
- Electricity and piped water was supplied
30
What was the Carrel-Dakin method?
- 1917
- Salt solution was moved through the wound using tubes
- Only lasted six hours, had to be made up when it was needed, difficult when lots of casualties
31
What were the new techniques for infections?
- Antiseptic and aseptic surgery not possible in dressing stations or CCS
- Surgeons went back to using chemicals to kill bacteria but didn’t work on gas gangrene
- Carrel-Dakin method
- Surgery developed to remove damage and infected tissue
- Last resort – amputation, by 1918 240,000 men lost limbs
32
What was the Thomas Splint?
- From December 1915
- Reduced death rate from broken limbs to fewer than 20%
- Kept the leg rigid which reduced blood loss
33
How were blood transfusions developed?
- Used from 1915
- In 1915 Richard Lewisohn discovered adding sodium citrate to blood stopped it clotting, so could be stored a short time
- Richard Weil used refrigerators to store for much longer
- In 1916 Francis Rous and James Turner added citrate glucose so it stored even longer
- In preparation for Battle of Canterbury, 1917, Oswald Hope Robertson stored 22 units of blood in the first blood depot
34
Who was Harold Gillies?
- Developed plastic surgery
- Sent to Western front in 1915
- By the end of the war nearly 12,000 plastic surgery operations took place
35
What are different sources to use for question 2b?
- Diaries by soldiers, doctors, nurses
- Hospital and medical records of the RAMC
- National army records
- National newspaper reports
- Government reports on the war
- Photographs
- Army statistics
