Syllabus Edition
First teaching 2024
First exams 2026
The Stages of Treatment in the First World War (Edexcel GCSE History): Revision Note
Exam code: 1HI0
How did soldiers receive medical help in the First World War? - Summary
Injured soldiers were moved along a structured system known as the chain of evacuation
Each stage offered increasingly advanced treatment, depending on the severity of injuries
Key medical groups included:
RAMC
FANY
VADs
Transport used to move injured soldiers included:
Stretchers
Ambulance wagons
Trains
Canal barges
Hospital ships
Many soldiers were eventually transported to Britain for further recovery.
The work of RAMC & nurses
RAMC
The army branch responsible for medical care in war
Founded in 1898
All medical officers belonged to the RAMC
The RAMC included:
Doctors
Stretcher-bearers
Ambulance drivers
Membership increased from 9,000 in 1914 to 113,000 in 1918
Nursing
QAIMNS were professional nurses
In 1914, there were 300 members on the Western Front
This increased to 10,000 by 1918
VADs
Stood for the Voluntary Aid Detachments
There were 90,000 volunteers, many were women
FANY
Stood for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
There were around 450 FANY nurses in France at any one time
From 1916, they drove ambulances, replacing Red Cross male drivers
Lamarck Hospital
Set up by volunteers in 1914 to treat battlefield casualties
Outside of driving ambulances, nurses helped in many ways:
Transporting to the different stages of treatment in the First World War
Why was transport important on the Western Front?
Different methods of transport were used depending on:
The soldier’s injuries
The distance to each stage of treatment
Stretcher-bearers
Stretcher-bearers were the first step in moving wounded away from the frontline
There were 16 stretcher bearers per battalion
Four to six bearers moved each stretcher
They worked day and night
Moved injured soldiers to Regimental Aid Post (RAP) or the Dressing Station
Stretcher-bearers faced dangerous and exhausting conditions
Worked Example
How could you follow up Source A to find out more about the work of the stretcher bearers on the Western Front?
In your answer, you must give the question you would ask and the type of source you could use.
4 marks
Source A: From a letter written by a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) to his family in 1915. He was in charge of a group of stretcher bearers. Here he is describing the work of his group of stretcher bearers after a German attack on the British trenches.
At 2 am a terrifying bombardment began and at 5 am the first batch of wounded began coming down the communication trench. It was evening by the time I got out of the trench to look for more wounded. I went off with another man to search for the wounded. We found most of them in a wooded area, so weak that they could not call out. They were so relieved at being found that I led a search for more wounded. It was awful work getting them out of the shell-holes. It was also hard to find enough men to carry them away because the stretcher bearers were so exhausted. Finally, we got our last wounded to safety at 4 am the next morning. Altogether, we had collected 18 men in a single day and were certain that no-one was left behind. |
Answers:
Detail in Source A that I would follow up: ‘we had collected 18 men in a single day.’ (1)
Question I would ask: What was the average number of men rescued by stretcher-bearers in a day? (1)
What type of source I would look for: RAMC records from 1915 for a group of stretcher-bearers. (1)
How this might help answer my question: The records would show how many injured soldiers had been rescued. (1)
This answer would receive full marks because it provides an appropriate question related to the detail selected from the source. The suggested source is precise and explains how it would answer the question.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Remember to be as specific as possible with the source you select. The above answer refers to ‘RAMC records’ rather than just ‘records’. The example above has used contextual knowledge and the caption itself about which organisation employed stretcher bearers.
Horse-drawn and motor ambulances
Needed for longer distances or when casualties were high
Both types of ambulances were used to reach:
Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS)
Base Hospitals
Enemy artillery destroyed many railway lines making the use of ambulances even more necessary
Trains, barges and ships
Trains:
Used to take wounded to Base Hospitals
Some trains contained operating theatres
Canal barges:
Used to take wounded to Base Hospitals
Canal barges were slower than trains but more comfortable for the wounded
Hospital ships:
Transported wounded soldiers from the coast back to Britain
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