Original WW1 postcard of British wounded convalescent soldiers some with bandages, one has an eye & head wound, others may have shell shock / PTSD. Some wearing blue hospital "blues" uniforms, others overcoats, outside a Field Hospital, a medical facility behind the front lines, or base hospital at the rear in France maybe, or a 'reserve' hospital back in the A soldier of the York and Lancaster Regiment stands in the middle of the group, perhaps these men are from his regiment. There are several Royal Army Medical Corps privates in attendance together with staff nurses, Circa 1915-1918.
From the very first weeks of combat onwards, the First World War unleashed a formerly unknown dimension of mass killing and produced unprecedented forms of physical injuries, illnesses and nervous disorders in all belligerent armies. From the viewpoint of the military, these innumerable casualties created a highly precarious situation. As a soldier’s health was increasingly considered to be a crucial factor in combat, physical and psychological health were viewed as powerful additional weapons on the battlefield, capable of becoming the decisive factor to either eventually defeat, or, at the very least, hold out for longer than the enemy.[1] From the authorities’ perspective, this came down to each and every soldier, as no potential fighting capacity could be wasted or allowed to lie fallow. Therefore, officials made every effort to create effective medical treatment schemes in order to send patients back to the front as soon as possible – ideally “cured” and “fit for duty.” This rehabilitation programme was to take place in military hospitals. In often provisional field hospitals close to the front and even more so in well-equipped reserve hospitals back home, patients spent weeks, months and, in some cases, up to several years, recovering – depending on their injury or illness. In this way, the temporary hospitalisation of soldiers became a mass phenomenon of World War I. Five types of military hospitals existed during the war: firstly, field hospitals (or Casualty Clearing Stations (CCSs) in the British army) close to the front lines, secondly, base hospitals in the rear, thirdly, home front hospitals, fourthly, hospitals in means of transportation (hospital trains and hospital ships) and finally, fifthly, prisoner-of-war hospitals. Additionally, naval hospitals were established for the treatment of wounded and sick marines. They were administered separately from army hospitals. Source: International Encyclopaedia of the First World War.
Size: 6793px × 4428px
Location: Europe
Photo credit: © ThislifeThen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ...., 1, 199-vbw1430, 1st, adult, adults, ancestor, ancestors, armies, army, bandage, bandages, black, british, bygone, casualties, casualty, class, clearing, clothes, clothing, conflict, conflicts, convalescent, convalescents, convalescing, corp, corps, dressed, effort, emancipated, emancipation, employment, english, era, field, girl, girls, great, health, healthcare, helping, hospital, hospitals, ill, illness, injured, injuries, injury, job, jobs, ladies, lady, ladys, male, males, man, medical, men, militaries, military, nostalgia, nostalgic, occupation, occupational, occupations, outfit, outfits, patient, patients, people, person, personnel, photo, portrait, portraits, ramc, ramcs, recruit, recruits, recuperation, royal, service, serviceman, servicemen, soldier, soldiers, stations, task, tasks, times, treatment, troop, troops, typical, uniform, uniformed, uniforms, vintage, war, ward, wards, warfare, warfaring, wars, wartime, wartimes, wearing, white, woman, womans, women, womens, working, workwear, world, wound, wounded, wounds, ww, ww1, wwi
