The Western Front to Camp Bastion: CPS Talk 23.2.15

Our speakers this week are Dr Emily Mayhew; Author and Historian and Major Dafydd Edwards; Field Surgeon for the British Army and PhD student at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial.

As the ‘Great War’ and the physics of high explosives were under discussion, there was an inevitable air of contemplative and/or melancholic pondering but it was a brilliant talk no less.

Dr Mayhew is a Historian at Imperial College whom specialises in the history of medicine and war. The book ‘Wounded’ covers her research on the stretcher bearers of the First World War and tonight Dr Mayhew will tell us what were the two greatest medical achievements of WWI.

Dr Mayhew began. Medical training for WWI was insufficient. The Second De Boer War in South Africa had preceded WWI by about 15 years but technological advances in that time were sufficient to nullify the current level of training in battle field medical practises. WWI brought with it high velocity weaponry. Projectiles were so energetic that not only did they cause puncture wounds but destroyed flesh in the entire region of the entry. During the De Boer war 7/10 soldiers in the wards would be suffering from minor wounds and communicable diseases. In WWI virtually all casualties involved catastrophic haemorrhage. This involves some highly destructive injury which has incurred very rapid and heavy bleeding.

Upon facing these severe injuries, it was clear to the officers that the wounded would die unless the bleeding was stopped very quickly. This meant that field hospitals were brought as close to the front line as could be safely justified.

Dr Mayhew showed us a detailed map drawn by a medical officer prior to the battle of Messines Ridge, its purpose was to show the stretcher bearers their exact route to the nearest medical out post. It indicated the extensive preparation for medical support that was undertaken along with these manoeuvres.

The responsibility of the stretcher bearers must have been an incomprehensible burden. They were unarmed but were not spared fire and would have to fetch mortally wounded soldiers from a hellish WWI battle field, additionally they were given the task of retrieving the bodies of alleged ‘cowards’ who had been shot by firing squad. Dr Mayhew informs us that putting together their history was not trivial and few official sources of information survived. However it was these stretcher bearers who were the precursors to the modern day battle field medics.

The training of the stretcher bearers to stop catastrophic haemorrhage was the first great medical achievement of WWI

The second great achievement is the Field Hospital, a centre of clinical expertise just behind the front line. Many lives were owed to the proximity of these facilities.

Next we are joined by Major Edwards who actively served in the British Armed Forces as part of a Medical Emergency Response Team.

He tells us that medical practises of WWI have still persisted into modern warfare. Only men bearing stretchers have been replaced by helicopters, at least on one of the sides. He took some time to highlight that WWI was symmetrical warfare. The front line, the mirror of symmetry, separated two forces that were evenly matched in technology and methodology.

Today however, Britain is involved in what are classed as asymmetric conflicts. No front lines and unevenly matched opponents with very different methodologies and resources. Improvised Explosive devices have meant that catastrophic haemorrhage is still a possible occurrence on battle fields.

The British Army medical infrastructure is now highly advanced. Wounded soldiers receive sequential treatment, critical measures are taken by a highly trained team in the Helicopter and if necessary a wounded soldier is flown back to the UK within 48 hours. The hospital at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, has a higher quality rating than any NHS facility in the UK.

If you are waiting to hear about the physics of high explosives, I will have to disappoint you. I had to leave the talk early in order to get the pizza’s ready, my apologies.

Should you wish to find out more investigate the Centre for Blast Injuries at Imperial College.

If you would like to know more about asymmetric conflicts, watch the film Bitter Lake by Adam Curtis, it’s on the BBC iplayer as of now. It’s something to have seen.