the medical corps at the battle of the Somme 1916
I hope this works because its taken me 12hours to plot.
Just zoom in and out to look at different aspects
The British medical corps
By the amount of medical dressing stations in the north, they expected high casualties, i just don't think as many as there was in the end.
over all the 1st day of the Somme had
20 main dressing stations
2 advanced operative centres
40 advanced dressing stations
38 regimental dressing stations
9 stop off points for the “walking wounded”
17 causality clearing stations
7 ambulance convey depots.
and 4 loading stations for the wounded
this seems a lot, but when you think of the numbers of wounded they couldn't cope, they had not prepared for such terrible injuries.
2 advanced operative centres proves this point.
This meant, there were not enough skilled medical practitioners across the battlefield. They must have only expected a small amount soldiers requiring surgery.
This put huge pressure on the regimental dressing stations and then the advanced dressing stations, also the doctors and nurses who worked there, they must have been none stop.
However sadly many died before reaching the ambulances and main hospitals.
The 4 loading bays made available for the wounded to get to hospitals at home or even within France, was wishful thinking at its best. They also couldn't cope with the amount of people to transport, meaning many died waiting to get transported.
Many also died waiting at Causality clearing stations, wounds that had been patched up and treated, (soliders that required further medical treatment but not immediately ).
However often because Soldiers were not assessed properly, mainly due to time, and the amount of wounded coming in. Many injuries were missed
visible wounds were treated. It was a put a plaster or banadage on job. it will do for now, Out of sight out of mind. This wasn't the medics fault its just all they could do with limited resources they had. What they needed was mainly more nurses, and doctors, stretcher bearers, and orderlies on the floor to help with the wounded. a hell of a lot more bed space was needed.
And lets not forget a major killer of the great war, sepsis. Long waiting times, for transport to hospitals increased this risk, many of the soldiers were covered in allsorts. it wasnt as, if they had time to be cleaned and washed, and sadly many died from sepsis.
Even though, triaging was better, medical innovation, nursing, surgery, use of anesthetics, medical care in general was all better. ( no antibiotics though)
The system that had improved greatly since the Crimea, just couldn't cope with the huge numbers of casualties.
