On the European battlefields of the 19th century, it was often not the doctor who decided the order of treating the wounded, but the rank of the wounded.
Few military doctors dare to arrange the order of treating the wounded according to their own medical principles, because this will not only make him enemies within the army, but also more likely to affect the future working environment. In the military of most countries, military rank represents "priority."
Principles are often very flexible.
The vast majority of battlefield memoirs in the Royal Library of Vienna were written by officers, and it was the pens in the hands of officers that left the stories on the battlefield.
But the main reason for the existence of memoirs is not the officer's literary quality and the writing desire to record his war life, but living. While they carry words that can be used for historical research, they also convey a cold fact: only those who survived the battlefield are qualified to write.
In the eyes of many surgical assistants at the door, the scene in front of them violated many regulations in the "Military Medical Manual (Kavi Edition)".
The first is the method of transport. The number of people in the stretcher team is seriously exceeded. 【1】
According to regulations, even seriously injured soldiers only need to be escorted by two people, and they only need to be escorted into the temporary rescue center, not the rear hospital. The wounded soldiers who can be transported to the rear are often only one in ten, and there is no need for a stretcher team to follow them, because there is no need to get off the vehicle on the road, and the general hospital can also be responsible for receiving all patients.
The five-man stretcher team, such a luxurious lineup, not only occupied the space of the transfer vehicle, but also directly caused the fact that the unit lost five combatants at once. 【2】
Secondly, minor injuries caused by firearms and bullets should not be transferred and sent back as long as they are not life-threatening. As long as the rescue center is able to bandage, or the officer himself is calm enough to bandage himself, he can immediately return to the battlefield to command the troops.
Maybe at the beginning of the battle, some military doctors made mistakes while they were busy, and occasionally one or two lightly wounded soldiers were included in the transport. But as the battle progresses, and as the number of wounded soldiers grows, the limited medical resources will remind people of the hierarchical system that has been recorded subconsciously.
In today's transport carriages, there are no minor injuries at all. The least serious injury is an amputation and some other injuries.
The injuries of other people in the car with Major General Maciei could no longer be solved by simple amputation. Some people were dying, some even lost consciousness, and some were declared dead before even making it to the hospital, and were thrown into the corpse parking area, waiting to be buried.
Major General Maciej, the son of Count Kram Grass, commander of the Third Army, was also the commander of the Second Infantry Division of the Third Army that quickly surrounded the artillery positions.
Perhaps because he was so dazzling in his heroic appearance while riding a tall war horse and holding a steel sword in his hand, the opponent fired several shots at his position when they retreated. The left leg was hit by a bullet. The huge penetration destroyed the skin and muscles of his calf and also entered the abdomen of the war horse he was riding.
"Such an injury." The assistant at the door was forced by the other party's major general rank and the hospital's rules and regulations to carry out the director who had not yet arrived at the hospital. "The director has regulations that such gunshot wounds should not be brought here. General Hospital."
"Then you just watched the major general's blood drain?"
The assistant did not dare to speak anymore, so he could only walk closer and remove the gauze pressing on the wound.
There was indeed active bleeding, but the puncture hole on the calf was small and the amount of bleeding was very limited. Head-on confrontation would definitely not work at this time. He glanced at the nurse behind him and said quickly: "Hurry up and arrange a comfortable bed for the major general, and then closely monitor his blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. Each round of testing data needs to be strictly recorded , and notify the acting dean.”
".good."
The nurse was confused by a bunch of adjectives, but if she thought about it carefully, she could still find the key points. The assistant's intention was very clear, just leave the person alone and record vital signs, and don't worry about anything else.
It was a stopgap measure, but unfortunately, the other party's request was not conservative treatment at all.
"What about surgery? The bullet penetrated the major general's left calf. Doesn't he need surgery?"
The assistant knew very well that this kind of gunshot wound only needed to stop bleeding and fight infection, but he had no authority to handle it and could only pass the responsibility to other doctors: "I am just an assistant, and the surgeon will handle it for the major general."
"Where's the doctor? Come find the doctor quickly!"
"The doctors are all performing operations."
Two of the five people quickly stood up and walked towards the hospital hall, shouting as they walked: "Doctor! Major General Maciei is injured, we need a doctor here!"
The chief surgeons in the general hospital are basically all in the operating room now. Apart from assistants, the ones who are outside are basically young doctors who are difficult to take charge of. From this point of view, Major General Maciej is lucky. Bill Rotter and Bottini, who are the pinnacle of surgical skills in the General Hospital at this stage, are in the hall.
But if you look at it from another angle, this major general who is under 40 years old has very bad luck.
Before the Austro-Prussian War, almost all military doctors in the empire adhered to the "rank classification theory", even Waterman and Ignatz were no exception.
They generally would not take the initiative to admit the fact that they treated officers first. Waterman had been called from the rear central hospital to the front line to treat the wounds of an army general. 【3】
This is a unique opportunity for all surgeons, and it shows.
The general survived, and the young Waterman soon became chief of the army's surgical management, almost the same position as Ignatz, the chief surgeon today. After returning home, Waterman also received the support of many military officials. Not only did he receive awards, he also served as the first president of the Austrian College of Surgery.
It can be said that no military doctor will refuse an officer's request for treatment.
But Bill Rotter does.
He has a stubborn temper and refuses to accept anyone. He treats medical treatment strictly and leaves no room for negotiation. Bottini may be just like an ordinary military doctor, but he stays here with a learning attitude. He neither dares nor wants to have the decision-making power to deal with patients alone.
When the two of them waded past the scattered wounded soldiers on the ground and quickly walked to the stretcher and saw Major General Maciei, Billroth first expressed dissatisfaction: "This stretcher is good. Come down quickly and let the carriage take it back to the battlefield." 【4】
Everyone:? ? ?
"Besides the left calf, are there any other wounds?"
"Gone."
Billroth began to quote a regulation to prove his point: "According to the "Military Medical Manual (Kavi Edition)", the principles of transport are clearly stated, 'A single crutch is enough for minor injuries to one leg, and at most only one crutch is needed. Can be accompanied by one person'."
"Crutches? If he only relied on crutches, the Major General might have died for the empire long ago!"
"I don't understand. What kind of injury can be accompanied by multiple people?"
"A maximum of two people will accompany you." Billroth took two sticks from the side and handed them over. "Ask him to come down quickly and give the stretcher to the injured who need it."
In the fortress hospital, a general surgeon who can go on the operating table already has the rank of captain. As the vice president of the surgical college and the chief surgeon of the second shift, Billroth is almost as good as Maciej in terms of military rank. Quite, they are all major generals.
The only difference is that he only holds a false position and has no real power over the soldiers.
The five accompanying soldiers were not afraid of him, but they did not dare to make any mistakes. They could only step forward and explain politely: "The major general is the son of Count Cram. I hope you can take good care of his wounds."
"I don't have time, I have to take care of the wounded soldier just now." Billroth glanced at his assistant and repeated what he just said in simple language, "Check the heart rate, and then wait until his hands are free. If so, I will bandage him again."
"Just a bandage?"
"His wound must be left open for drainage, and immediate suturing is strictly prohibited." Although Billroth did not like the microbiology theory proposed by Carvey, the regulations in the military medical manual must be implemented. "We are an army hospital with strict regulations here. The limbs are penetrated by bullets." I don’t need you to teach me how to deal with injuries.”
The five people still wanted to argue with him, but Maciei called him back: "Forget it, let's leave it like this for now."
"But Major General, your wound is still bleeding."
"It's okay, it's just a minor injury."
"It's really a minor injury, so come down quickly and return the stretcher." Bill Rotter seemed to attach great importance to the stretcher under his butt. "Look at what the wounded are using. The supplies are so scarce that they need to use broken flagpoles and thin pieces of cloth. They are here to make makeshift stretchers, some of them don’t even have flagpoles, and even the bloody blankets covering their bodies are shared!”
This is a bit ambiguous.
Facing the Internet in this battle, the Third Army's overall medical supplies are sufficient, but this is only limited to the situation of proper deployment. There is no opportunity for reasonable deployment on the real battlefield. At the door where the wounded entered and exited, these words were as lethal as a heavy shot fired from a 12-pound gun.
Seeing that his power was being challenged, Maciei looked very ugly, but the other party had the rank of colonel on his body and was surrounded by seriously injured soldiers, so he really had no shame to refute.
But the five soldiers were different.
Maciej is the son of a count and a red man in the army. In their eyes, the injury to the earl's son was an opportunity to show off. Even if they couldn't say it openly in person, they could just lower their voices and curse.
Billrot listened and asked Bottini to send the wounded soldier with a broken shoulder to the operating room first. Then when the stretcher team was preparing to arrange the major general into the ward, he turned and walked to the door: "Guard, Come, capture them all and send them to the fortress management office."
"Catch who?"
"Major General Maciej's stretcher team!"
Those who had been silent before found it difficult to accept the current result: "We are only responsible for transporting the major general, so why are we guilty?"
"You are just a doctor, why do you arrest us?"
"You have no right to arrest us!"
Billroth grabbed a stack of registration sheets from the sub-inspection office, quickly scanned the injuries of the wounded in the sheets, and said: "The Military Medical Office notified all troops two months ago that escorts are strictly prohibited for transport to the rear. Violators will be punished with Deserters will be punished. Although I have no real power, I still have the power to deal with deserters."
"us."
"Could it be that Major General Maciei ordered you to do this?"
"no!"
"Is that Earl Cram? Didn't Mr. Earl receive military orders?"
His suspicions became more and more exaggerated, and the soldiers simply couldn't bear it. In the end, Maciei came out to smooth things over: "They didn't know about this announcement, and they rescued me out of their own free will and good intentions. They are all excellent soldiers, Bill Rowe." What Dr. Te said is a bit excessive.”
"Then return to the battlefield quickly and don't embarrass the Imperial soldiers!"
In the chaotically managed Austrian army, such private evacuation and even inexplicable "disappearances" were simply unavoidable. This was also a regulation formulated by Carvey after referring to a military order issued by General Marshall Ney, Field Marshal of the French Left Army Corps in the Battle of Waterloo. 【5】
This provision became the most popular entry among officers in the "Military Medical Manual" that Carvey rushed to complete, because no officer wanted the soldiers in his hands to become deserters.
But after actually arriving on the battlefield, it is difficult to estimate how many officers can make their soldiers comply with this clause. If he was the one who was injured, most of the officers in the army would become Major General Maciej, and Lockard would not be as tough as Bill Rotter.
The entire battle lasted until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Prussia lost half an artillery battalion and several artillery pieces, while Austria lost a large number of infantry.
It is difficult to estimate the victory or defeat of both sides in this encounter, but some of them "perfectly disappeared" on the battlefield. They had no bodies and only left names on the list.
Billroth and Bottini's surgeries took place an hour after the fight.
The injured soldier's shoulder was almost completely destroyed, and they could only help remove part of the muscles and ribs, using the remaining skin flaps to protect the gap in the chest. But because the operation was too difficult, the wounded soldier died in the ward the night after the operation.
The scene at the frontline temporary rescue center was even more miserable.
There are only a handful of wounded soldiers who can be handled by Lockard. Most of them can only line up at the door of the first aid station, or ask assistant nurses to help with wound debridement and simple bandaging.
There is only suffering on the battlefield, and no one can turn the tide, not even Kawei who is on the train. For him, under the premise that war is inevitable, all he can do is to reduce the deaths of wounded soldiers as much as possible.
The first edition of the "Military Medical Manual" was a temporary set of rules and regulations of less than a hundred pages that he rushed out.
After several revisions, it became a thousands-page military medical training textbook and was regarded as a guideline by the Austrian Imperial Army.
