A German Surgeon’s Diary Entry:

August 5, 1914

I have recently joined the Field Ambulance(FA) close to Strasbourg. Being on leave for two weeks helped me ease the tensions of war. The FA where I was posted as I came back was deep in the Front Line, far from the HQ and even distant from any distant General Hospitals. As I came on duty I immediately realized the shortage of civil surgeons. There was always the shortage of equipment and surgeons, but here it was desperately so. There was only Lt. Dollars, Grooves and Major Leaf as civil surgeons and five other Medical Officers. Our Commanding Officer was Major David, and Captain Pisel acted as Sanitary Officer. I was initially in charge of the B Section, but had to take over Leaf’s D Section when he got struck down by a shell wound in the shoulder. There was always the lack of sufficient stores and equipment, and I had difficulty locating even my personal kit!

Our FA had only about 60 men , and 10 rubber tyred ambulance wagons driven by draft horses. Like all FA, our primary purpose was in collecting the wounded through stretchers and sending them to the rear as soon as possible. I mostly did field dressings, and made sure the wounded survived until they reached the Dressing Station. There were 90 patients today, with more than half needing the anti-tetanus shot. Trench foot was also in an all-time high with around 50 patients needing medication. It’s a pity, that a medical officer only receives an annual sum of 30,000 marks.

More than once we had injuries due to shelling or shots, and had moved our position several times over the week to escape rifle shots. Although theoretically dressing stations should be stationed as close as possible, they were mostly out of range of the rifle shots, leaving quite a distance for our stretcher bearers to carry. Having no motor ambulances(all our wagons being carried by horses), we often had to return the wounded in empty supply wagons.

August 6, 1914

There was heavy shelling today, and we retreated almost right into the supply line. We made contact with town for the first time in weeks, and I send a telegram back home in Berlin mostly reporting good conditions although this is clearly false. From the items in town, I obtained a Greatcoat and a sword as an additional measure, although it was unnecessary to a medical officer.