War Medicine

Question 1

What was the front line?

Answer 1

Trench closest to enemy, soldiers shoot from there

Question 2

What was the battle of Ypres?

Answer 2

Ypres on route to Calais+Dunkirk, British needed to defend route so could still recieve supplies= food , equipment and men

Question 3

What was the terrain like at Ypres?

Answer 3

Easily flooded, difficult to move on foot, problem for stretcher bearers

Question 4

What happened at the battle of Somme?

Answer 4

20,000 died on first day of battle, 400,000 casualties

Question 5

What was the terrain like at Somme?

Answer 5

tanks used but created uneven ground, difficult for transport

Question 6

What happened at the battle of Arras (1917)?

Answer 6

Soldiers dug a network of tunnels, added rooms fitted with water+electric, underground hospitals with operating theatre, accommodation and shelter

Question 7

What happened at the battle of Cambrai (1917)?

Answer 7

Tanks used, first was effective but didn’t have enough soldiers to support and defend area, british lost land they’d taken

Question 8

How was trench fever transmitted?

Answer 8

By lice

Question 9

Treatment for trench fever?

Answer 9

Drugs weren’t a success so electric shocks used

Question 10

Prevention of trench fever?

Answer 10

Clothes disinfected, delousing stations

Question 11

Symptoms of shell shock?

Answer 11

Tiredness, nightmares

Question 12

Treatment of shell shock?

Answer 12

Condition not well understood, rest, treatment back in England

Question 13

What was dysentery?

Answer 13

Due to overcrowding and poor hygiene, infection that affected bowles, suffer stomach pain + diahorea to the point of dehydration

Question 14

Why was constant bombing a problem with treating wounded?

Answer 14

Left holes and craters, made transportation of injured soldiers difficult

Question 15

Why was the soil a problem at war?

Answer 15

Bacteria in the soil led to infected wounds

Question 16

Why did the streacher bearers find it hard to transport wounded?

Answer 16

Worked during night, couldn’t always see route clearly, sometimes trying to move during fighting

Question 17

What prolem did the ambulances have treating the wounded?

Answer 17

Difficult to move kn mud, soldiers left injured for days

Question 18

How did high casualties affect treatment?

Answer 18

High casualty rates during battles slowed down medical treatment

Question 19

What were problems with trenches helping wounded?

Answer 19

Narrow, often got blocked, lots of men and equipment, problems moving and treating wounded during battle, trenches deep in mid, difficult to move round cornets of trenches

Question 20

How many streacher bearers were there ?

Answer 20

Took 4 men to carry a stretcher, each batallion had 16 bearers

Question 21

What was FANY?

Answer 21

First aid, nursing yeomary, ambulance drivers and nurses, took supplies to front, drove motorised kitchens and baths

Question 22

What were the 5 stages of the evacuation route?

Answer 22

1) stretcher bearers
2) regimental aid post
3) dressing station
4) casualty clearing station (CCS)
5) base hospitals

Question 23

What was the regimental aid post?

Answer 23

Close to front line, medical officers identified those who were lightly wounded and who needed more medical attention

Question 24

What happened at field ambulance and dressing station?

Answer 24

Large mobile medical unit with medical officers, support staff, some nurses. Emergency treatment given to wounded, more and less seriously wounded separated

Question 25

What were casualty clearing stations?

Answer 25

First large, well equipped medical unit, contained x-ray machines and wards with beds, ten miles away from fighting

Question 26

What were base hospitals?

Answer 26

Converted buildings, arrive by train, ambulance or canal, operating theatres, x-rays, area for gas poisoning, most patients sent back to Britain

Question 27

What was chlorine gas?

Answer 27

First used in 1915, caused suffocation, soldiers had difficulty breathing

Question 28

What did soldiers due during gas attacks before gas masks?

Answer 28

Would soak cloth in urine, hold it to faces to stop them breathing in gas

Question 29

What was mustard gas?

Answer 29

First used in 1917, no smell, burned skin, blisters, suffocation and death

Question 30

What was phosgene gas?

Answer 30

1915 at Ypres, suffocation, very quick death

Question 31

What was shrapnel?

Answer 31

Exploded mid air above enemy, effective against troops crossing no man's land, responsible for 58% of wounds

Question 32

Describe artillery?

Answer 32

Cannons grew bigger and more powerful, send 900kg shells, artillery fire caused half of casualties

Question 33

Describe rifles?

Answer 33

Loaded from cartridge case creating rapid automatic fire, pointer bullets, drive further into body

Question 34

Describe machine guns?

Answer 34

More speed than rifles, fire 500 a minute, pierce organs and fracture bones

Question 35

What were the 4 parts of the trench system?

Answer 35

☆Front line ☆Communication trench ☆Support trench ☆Reseve trench

Question 36

What was no man's land?

Answer 36

Stretch of land between allied german trenches

Question 37

What was a dugout?

Answer 37

Dug out into sides of trench, men used when needed rest and protection

Question 38

What was the communication trench?

Answer 38

Connected other lines of trenches, move between other trenches

Question 39

What was the support trench?

Answer 39

Dug out behind front line, retreat here during attack

Question 40

What was the Reserve trench?

Answer 40

Dug behind support trenches, prepare here for attack

Question 41

What was the Carol Dakin method?

Answer 41

A system of tubes which kept chemical solution flowing through wound to fight gas gangrene infection

Question 42

Why was the Carol Dakin method invented?

Answer 42

Surgeons couldn't use aseptic techniques on war front

Question 43

What was wound incision and debridment?

Answer 43

Cutting away dead and damaged tissue around the wound, closed up to prevent infection spread

Question 44

What was the Thomas Splint?

Answer 44

Stopped joints moving which created compound fractures (where broken bones pierces skin)

Question 45

Where were blood transfusions used?

Answer 45

Base hospitals, portable blood transfusion kit used close to front line, blood loss was a major problem

Question 46

Problems with storing blood?

Answer 46

•Clotted easily

Question 47

How did they solve blood clotting in stored blood?

Answer 47

Sodium citrate could prevent clotting, allow it to be stored, blood could be refrigerated

Question 48

Who was Geoffrey Keynes?

Answer 48

Developed portable machine for blood storing, blood could be taken to front line

Question 49

Uses of mobile x-ray machines?

Answer 49

Locate shrapnel quickly, removed more accurately, smaller wounds

Question 50

What was created for head injuries?

Answer 50

In 1915 steel helmets replaced soft caps, reduced fatal head injuries by 80%

Question 51

What happened to transport of wounded between 1914 and 1915?

Answer 51

1914= no ambulances, horse drawn unable to keep up 1915= 250 motor ambulances, trains, horse drawn still used as more effective when travelling over mud and shell holes