Each British division had three such units, as well as a specialist medical sanitary unit. This was a mobile medical unit, not a vehicle. These men have clearly already received some rudimentary medical assistance in the trenches. Note also the walking wounded following them. Imperial War Museum copyright image Q31794. Stretcher-bearers carrying an injured man on a stretcher down a twisting trench in Salonika. All involved were well within the zone where they could be under fire.

The Field Ambulance (see below) would provide relays of stretcher bearers and men skilled in first aid, at a series of “bearer posts” along the route of evacuation from the trenches. Units in the trenches provided such posts and generally had a Medical Officer, orderlies and men trained as stretcher bearers who would provide this support. The casualty is likely to have received first medical attention at aid posts situated in or close behind the front line position. Many men missed stages altogether, and of course many wounded soldiers were in no condition to know which of these units was caring for them. This page describes the main medical functions in a complex chain that processed the casualty from the front line back to hospitals at home.

Download base hospital ww1