I shifted my operating theatre to the cellar with one electric lamp. But by 1916, military and medical authorities were convinced that many soldiers exhibiting the characteristic symptomstrembling rather like a jelly shaking; headache; tinnitus, or ringing in the ear; dizziness; poor concentration; confusion; loss of memory; and disorders of sleephad been nowhere near exploding shells. Medical Battalion Headquarters: Armored Medical Battalion, Armored Division, T/O & E 8-75, November 21, 1944 33 Commissioned Officers, 2 Warrant Officers & 365 Enlisted Men + 105 Vehicles and Trailers. The COLLECTING COMPANY, Medical Battalion, Infantry Division: This particular Section operated under supervision of the S-1 (Adjutant). Eventually they went and I was very glad to see them go. The CO usually was a Lieutenant Colonel. The rest of the Headquarters organization included : Detachment Headquarters Section: consisted (1942 data) of : 1 Officer and 16 Enlisted Men. Illustration showing some of the means of transportation used by a Collecting Company . The Company Headquarters was organized to perform the functions of command, administration, mess, supply, and motor maintenance. That such an outlandish story could gain credence was not surprising: notwithstanding the massive cannon fire of previous ages, and even automatic weaponry unveiled in the American Civil War, nothing like this thunderous new artillery firepower had been seen before. I decided to take my share in the evacuation part instead of operating. -7-. I do not know what really happened when I took ill but I do sincerely hope that you will forgive me if I was the cause of any unpleasant situation or inconvenience.. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not I drove back and could hardly see where we were going and we became separated again. There was a first class air fight and we saw two Defiants bring down three enemy planes. This new type of injury, a British medical report concluded, appeared to be the result of the actual explosion itself, and not merely of the missiles set in motion by it. In other words, it appeared that some dark, invisible force had in fact passed through the air and was inflicting novel and peculiar damage to mens brains. From June 1940 to December 1941 I was stationed at various places in England. Airborne Medical Company, Airborne Division, T/O & E 8-37T, December 16, 1944 27 Commissioned Officers & 273 Enlisted Men + 65 Vehicles and Trailers. Charles Myers of the Royal Army Medical Corps noted the remarkably close similarity of symptoms in three soldiers who had each been exposed to exploding shells: Case 1 had endured six or seven shells exploding around him; Case 2 had been buried under earth for 18 hours after a shell collapsed his trench; Case 3 had been blown off a pile of bricks 15 feet high. The Germans were sitting all over the place talking to the patients, showing them photos and fetching them water. It operated a Clearing Station which was the last (second echelon) element in the Division medical service. There was such an air of confidence after the awful army dithering. Lennel House is of interest today, however, not for its gardens, but because it preserved a small cache of medical case notes pertaining to shell shock from the First World War. In 1901, Maj. Walter Waring, a distinguished officer and veteran of the Boer War and a Liberal MP, had married Lady Susan Elizabeth Clementine Hay and brought her to Lennel House. Life at Lennel was conducted in the familiar and subtly strict routine of the well-run country house, with meals at set times, leisurely pursuits and tea on the terrace. The rest were leaving at 8.00pm for the boat. The Headquarters Detachment normally set up its installations in vicinity of the Clearing Station and the Medical Battalion CP. SOUTHERN FRANCE > 15 August 1944 14 September 1944 The troops filed past and the Retreat from Moscow was never in it. It was always busy in the Casualty Clearing Station. Philip Newman's service with the 12th CCS at Dunkirk will be featured in the forthcoming BBC2 series on Dunkirk. Sunday June 2nd 1940 He will be featured in the third episode, to be broadcast on February 20th. I packed about 100 into the lorries and they really were a grand sight as we wished them good luck as they drew away. I decided to operate again. We set off in a state of desolation and went to two hospitals and a nunnery in Dunkirk all refused us and in sheer despair M and I decided to sit in a dug out and smoke a cigarette in peace. EAST INDIES > 1 January 1942 22 July 1942 The Clearing Platoon consisted of Medical and Dental Officers, assisted by a fairly large number of Technicians. They were hectic days in the extreme. Our unit left Liverpool in December 1941 and we spent Christmas Day that year in Sierra Leone harbour. Early medical opinion took the common-sense view that the damage was commotional, or related to the severe concussive motion of the shaken brain in the soldiers skull. Cowell arrived and told us to expect 700 wounded. We soon realised what we were up against. The most notorious were undoubtedly Dr. Lewis Yeallands electric shock therapies, conducted at the National Hospital for Paralysed and Epileptic, at Queen Square, London, where he claimed his cure had been applied to upwards of 250 cases (an unknown number of which were civilian). It was grand to find that there was anyone so big as this still in France! Depending on the severity and nature of their injuries, casualties were treated either at the Seriously Wounded or Slightly Wounded Departments. Background: The Medical Battalion was a Divisional medical unit developed to furnish medical support for the Infantry Division. It was a lovely morning and the Golden Oriole was singing in the big Oak Tree in the park. In the meantime the first casualty was taken to the Collecting Station. recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. My name is Geoffrey Keynes and I was a surgeon in a Casualty Clearing Station in France during the First World War. The rest of the stretchers we begged the French soldiers to take with them onto the boats which they did with an ill grace. As they looked objectionably near, we decided to take precautions. We slept for a few hours and then were awakened by a terrific crash a shell had come into the front room, the operating theatre that was. It is raining off an[d] on today. A Captain of the Hq & Hq Det was the Supply Officer for the Medical Battalion, and also the general Supply Officer of the Division. There was peace at last. View of Receiving Department of a Clearing Station, where Litter Squads are in operation, either unloading Ambulances or removing patients from the Department. It was a weary day with shells zipping over regularly in batches of about 10 every 15 minutes. WESTERN PACIFIC > 15 June 1944 2 September 1945 Such parts as remained behind constituted a kind of Company reserve, which was temporarily under command of the Medical Battalion CO until called for by the Collecting Company commander. The Collecting Platoon consisted (1942 data) of 1 Officer (i.e. LEYTE > 17 October 1944 1 July 1945 In November 1941 he was transferred to a camp in Rouen in France as part of a repatriation deal between Britain and Germany. ! For some, the rush of the outside world came at them too fast: I have been annoyed quite a lot at little things & my stammer has returned, one officer confided. The Medical Battalion was thus charged with the evacuation of ALL casualties from the Infantry Battalion and Regimental Aid Stations. This Tag is the early versionM.D. TUNISIA > 17 November 1942 13 May 1943. NORMANDY > 6 June 1944 24 July 1944 The major functions of the Collecting Companies were fourfold: Each of the three (3) Collecting Companies was responsible for the collection of all casualties from Aid Stations of the Division, the temporary treatment of these casualties, and their evacuation to the Clearing Station. Patients were prepared at the Clearing Stations for further evacuation to the rear. Slept that night on some luggage in the officers mess. Public entrance via Fairbairn Avenue, Campbell ACT 2612, Book your ticket to visit: awm.gov.au/visit, Copyright I told him that conditions were hopeless and that unless we had help all we could do was to prevent 600 wounded from dying from thirst. At 11.00pm I saw the last of the BEF file past. Pte. AIR OFFENSIVE JAPAN > 17 April 1942 2 September 1945 2 Rest Camp This exciting prospect of a clinical diagnosis was presaged by the observation in World War I that spinal fluid drawn from men who had been blown up revealed changes in protein cells. It always accompanied the Division in the field! This section operated under supervision of the S-4 (Supply Officer). Thus, although shell shock was to be the signature injury of the opening war of the modern age, and although its vexed diagnostic status has ramifications for casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan today, relatively little personal medical data from the time of the Great War survives. Twentyfive pounder guns fired over the hospital all day. Personnel Section: consisted (1942 data) of : 1 Officer and 4 Enlisted Men. The normal functions of the Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment was the daily operation of activities necessary for the complete administration and maintenance of the Medical Battalion through such services as supply mess and clerical duty. Rest, peace and quiet, and modest rehabilitative activities became the established regimen of care, sometimes accompanied by psychotherapy sessions, the skillful administration of which varied from institution to institution and practitioner to practitioner. Five ambulances set off immediately with drivers so; This Section also operated under the S-4. I had four weeks demob leave. One of the gloomiest aspects of those days was the way anyone in authority seemed to forsake his post and jump on a boat for home. We found a house with the rest of the unit and I slept on the floor of the basement. Remark: In the British Army and other Commonwealth militaries, a Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) is a military medical facility behind the front lines that is used to treat wounded soldiers. The Clearing Company of the Medical Battalion operated Clearing Stations as necessary for the sorting and treatment of patients evacuated by the Collecting Companies. RYUKYUS > 26 March 1945 2 July 1945 The Lennel Auxiliary Hospital, a private convalescent home for officers, was a country estate owned by Maj. Walter and Lady Clementine Waring that had been transformed, as had many private homes throughout Britain, into a treatment center. Monday June 3rd 1940 Enlisted personnel employed at Battalion Headquarters were members of the Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment. The night before we had slept in the cellar and although it did not strike me at the time, I remember now that we left three dying men in there as it served as an operating theatre also. They were sheer death traps and hygienically appalling. We were still cruising off shore and the skipper would not leave while he could see anyone on the beach. On 31st May we were ordered to leave our billet for hopeful evacuation. Lennel House itself, which the family sold in the 1990s, is now a nursing home. We made our way into Germany where, after being in various places, we ended up just outside Hanover. This photograph, taken in 1945 shows the stowage of camouflage net on the roof of a WC54 Ambulance seen through the ruined building. Collecting Station Platoon: In a landmark article, Capt. Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the NAPLES-FOGGIA > 9 September 1943 21 January 1944 We, with some marines, rushed a few of the stretchers mile up the jetty and put them on a boat. The Navy chap in charge said that when he ordered, Stop, we had to stop trying to get aboard or he would shoot us and I am sure that he would have. Someone could have a brain injury and be looking like it was PTSD, says Col. Geoffrey Ling, the director of the DARPA study. A few men were killed in the ambulances and others wounded. But everyone was so glad to leave. galleries are progressively closed from 4 pm. During the middle of the day three shells hit the house. Diagram showing the organization of a Collecting Company. At wars end, the legions of shellshocked veterans dispersed into the mists of history. In the very dim early morning light we sorted out patients and masonry and carried the patients outside. On our way to the 8th army I met up with my brother Bernard for four hours in Cairo. My duty over and with a little extra excitement, I went to bed at 4.00am. It also had a number of Ambulances in order to evacuate cases requiring urgent surgery from the Clearing Station to its own installations. Medical Battalion, Infantry Division, T/O 8-15, July 3, 1944 35 Commissioned Officers, 2 Warrant Officers & 407 Enlisted Men + 90 Vehicles and Trailers. The functions of the Clearing Platoon were largely technical, of a professional nature, so only a small amount of administrative work was necessary. The Medical Battalion was organized as a kind of miniature medical organization in order to maintain the best operative coordination of all the existing facilities and to give flexibility to a possible expansion of the medical service when necessary. He immediately wirelessed for 2 hospital ships. No. Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. AIR OFFENSIVE EUROPE > 4 July 1942 5 June 1944 The Medical Board sent me down here for two months light duty after which I must return to the fray! writes Lieutenant Jacob, and, as a wistful postscript; Did you ever finish that jolly Japanese puzzle picture? Want to know more about No. They associated us 3 with something that was a nightmare. Hewer, Williamson and I gathered in what was the Mess and decided to try and get a little order out of the chaos. All visitors require a free timed ticket to enter the Memorial Galleries and attend the Last Post Ceremony. I had one nightmare after this while I was billeted with nice people in Leeds, where I finally rejoined my unit all safe and sound. Wounded increased until the house was packed full and the driveway was full of ambulances loaded up. All rights reserved. Away they went and there we were, left with over 300 wounded and the Germans to come. This was a Monday after the worst Sunday I have ever spent. There were about a dozen of the poor chaps; one lad had a slab of concrete on his face. I spent Christmas 1942 at Tobruk and New Years Eve at Bengazi. The army moved us to a safer area the next day. CENTRAL EUROPE > 22 March 1945 11 May 1945 Battalion Headquarters Section: consisted (1942 data) of : 3 Officers and 8 Enlisted Men. Caroline Alexanders latest book is The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homers Iliad and the Trojan War. Battalion Headquarters was an agency of command and control, consisting of the Commanding Officer (MC), the Executive Officer + Plans & Training Officer (XO + S-3, combined duty), and the Adjutant + Personnel Officer (i.e. The Germans did not come. Find out how you can use this. On 1 March 1970, the Royal Army Medical Corps went through an internal reorganisation which saw the old medical designations replaced by modern terms. How lucky we were to escape unharmed. The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers and the free to access part of the website is funded by donations from our visitors. It was a most hair raising drive with the streets almost impassable, many houses in flames in fact the whole night red with burning buildings. Mountain Medical Battalion, Mountain Division, T/O 8-135, April 1, 1942 47 Commissioned Officers & 543 Enlisted Men + 69 Vehicles and Trailers + 120 Animals (Horses & Mules). That day we were left almost entirely alone. Then we suddenly realised that here were no bullets coming past the house and that they were all going off in the same place. I got such a deep breath of Lennel, while I was reading your letter, wrote one officer from the Somme in December 1916, & Ill bet you had your tennis shoes on, & no hat, & a short skirt, & had probably just come in from a walk across the wet fields; Did you really and truly mean that I would be welcome at Lennel if I ever get the opportunity for another visit? one officer asked yearningly. Realising the hopelessness of the situation, we decided to get a nights rest. Christmas Day 1944 was spent somewhere in Belgium. I organised the Senior NCOs and officers in a watch routine through the night. They were actually pretty insightful, Ling says of the early medics. He told me to stay where I was and wait but that I could not take the pack. That Christmas was the last we had together until 1945. Again the bizarre conditions struck me I was now the owner of three cars a Humber Super Snipe, a Lincoln Zephyr, and an Austin Seven. Tuesday, May 27th 1940 A photograph that had been in the possession of Capt. He escaped in August 1941 from a camp in Germany but was recaptured within 48hours. Read more: https://www.med-dept.com/articles/the-ww2-medical-battalion-infantry-division/, The WW2 Medical Battalion, Infantry Division, 3 Collecting Companies (usually designated Company A, B, and C), 1 Clearing Company (usually designated Company D), Remove evacuees from Infantry Regiment Aid Stations to Collecting Stations, Prepare evacuees at the Collecting Stations for further evacuation, Transport evacuees by Ambulance from Collecting Stations to Division Clearing Stations. When the deal fell through and before he was transferred back to Germany, he escaped again in January 1942. This story has been placed in the following categories. Organization of the Clearing Company, showing the 2 Clearing Platoons.. Company Headquarters: On the night of 30th May we had all been told that we were going home at 11.00pm. photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. I was allowed a sleeping out pass. Straightaway I organised a theatre in the drawing room of the Chateau and within two hours had two operating teams going. ROME-ARNO > 22 January 1944 9 September 1944 2023 It was terrible to see. They were highly mobile military hospitals. Following the Great War, Major Waring served as Parliamentary private secretary to Winston Churchill. Here, the casualty was transferred to a Wheeled Litter, and the Litter Squad then returned to the Aid Station to pick up another casualty. It was amazing what this ray of hope did. Want to find out more about your relative's service? There were Good Times and Bad Times but always Good Friends. Our Comment on these cases seems superfluous, Myers concluded, after documenting in detail the symptoms of each. There were ambulances strewn all over the place patients in tents corpses and the house stinking like a cesspool. Since it was imperative for the Collecting Company to establish and maintain liaison with the aid Stations, a Liaison Section was usually created T/O do not however prescribe such specific function so it had to be improvised from well-trained EM, there were normally 4 liaison agents under command of a Sergeant (who usually operated the Message Center as well).
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