September 28, 1866, evening, 9 o'clock, light rain
The southernmost point of Silesia, the city of Granseni, is where the headquarters of the Prussian Second Army is now located.
Since the brief contact between the forward troops and the Austrian army, the two armies have been pulling each other on the northern front, and finally came to a stalemate on the border. But this stalemate is only the result of the battle seen by the commanders. For ordinary soldiers, the battle never stops, and the sporadic gunfire on the front line can affect their lives.
In the eyes of outsiders, Prussia's overall surgical level is the same as Austria's, which ranks near the top of Europe, slightly better than Russia in the east, and worse than Britain and France.
In fact, this kind of good or bad is entirely physical, and no one has done detailed statistics.
In terms of surgical concepts, Prussia also followed the traditional European route. Miasma theory and frequent amputations dominated the thinking of surgeons. Due to various technical difficulties, there is almost no room for abdominal surgery.
The operating environment is harsh, and less than 30% of the wounded soldiers who survive the ravages of the battlefield, the surgical operating table, and long-term ward life are what people call the truly lucky.
The Granseny Central Hospital, like the Austrian Fortress Hospital, was renovated from an ordinary hospital area and was the rear hospital of the Prussian Second Army.
Once the fighting started on the front line, this place was not spared. A steady stream of wounded soldiers were transported here by carriages. Unfortunately, this central hospital is not large in scale. Although the ward has just been expanded, it only increased the number of beds from 500 to 700. On the day of the war, it was overcrowded by wounded soldiers.
In fact, we cannot blame the Military Medical Department too much.
Because in the original plan of Prussian General Staff Moltke, the Second Army on the northern front would not be the first to dispatch. The penetration of this artillery unit and the encounter with the Austrian Third Army was purely accidental. The disconnect between strategy and reality fostered laxity and greatly delayed preparations for military hospitals.
Just two days ago, these so-called wards were just ordinary houses around the hospital. After being taken back for military use by the Military Medical Department, other than a general cleaning and gathering of medical supplies that could be found, the ward did not have any emergency treatment capabilities.
The beds were simply wooden boards + straw, and more wounded soldiers could only sleep on the ground, or find a place to rest in the corner. There was not a single doctor in the entire ward, only so-called "medical staff" with bad attitudes.
If you have experienced it yourself, you might call this attitude "indifferent" or even "insensitive."
Prussia did not have an advantage in the battle on the front line, and injuries and retreats also caused some morale problems. At this time, if those Prussian soldiers who fought bloody battles were sent to this cold hospital, the consequences could be imagined.
In addition to the psychological troubles of wounded soldiers, almost all military hospitals have a more prominent problem: the environment is not comfortable at all.
As the central hospital with the best conditions of the Second Army, it was originally scheduled to have 700 beds and 50 nurses. But when wounded soldiers poured in, the 700 beds became more than 2,000 wounded in three days, but the number of caregivers would not change.
There were no beds for the wounded and there were crowds everywhere.
Each room has a door and a huge chimney, but the windows are very small. Because of the existence of miasma and the location of Glenseny, which is generally dry and cold in winter, the issue of ventilation was not considered in the early stages of building the house. ….
In order to clean the wounds, the room was filled with various large buckets and bathtubs, filled with horrifying blood, and some strange and unknown tissues were washed off and floating on the water, which was disgusting to watch.
This was not bad for the first day of the war, at least the large number of people could keep warm and the soldiers could endure it. But in the next two days, there were more and more wounded people, and the stench in the room became stronger and stronger.
When a hospital cannot provide even the most basic hospital beds and clinical care, you can imagine how chaotic their medical treatment work is.
The Austrian muzzle-loading rifles did not have the rate of fire of the percussion guns in the hands of the Prussian infantry, but just one shot was powerful enough to shatter their muscles and guts.
Surgery still continues the previous treatment principles. There is no way to treat many gunshot wounds. Blindly removing bullets will aggravate the injuries. The only way to do this is to
Just bandage the wound, stop the bleeding, and wait...
Some soldiers who are lucky will live with this bullet. Those who are less lucky will have to wait for amputation if their blood supply is cut off. And more soldiers don't even have the chance of amputation because surgeons are limited and they can only wait for the wound to slowly heal. The infection festers.
Physicians who have completed their bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies in medical school have no way to deal with these glaring surgical wounds. But they will at least do something within their power, such as trying their best to remove the smell in the room to make the soldiers live better.
Starting from the morning of the 27th, people will burn fir trees in the corner of the hospital ward every day, hoping that the smoke raised will block the miasma, remove the rotten smell, and prevent further ulceration of the wound.
The method was ridiculous, but it was a pity that the wounded couldn't laugh.
As expected, on the afternoon of the 27th, the wounded who arrived on the first day of the battle began to have a fever. The casually bandaged wounds began to show signs of festering. The doctor could only choose to pour cold water on their hot bodies, but it was of no use.
This is not a therapy that can be used casually, because many soldiers cannot enjoy such treatment because of insufficient water sources.
That night some high-fever gibbering could be heard in the ward, and the corpse bearers started working early the next morning. They were divided into two groups, one group dug holes around the hospital under the supervision of soldiers, and the other group wandered around the wards, looking for dead bodies that had not yet been discovered.
Death began to spread at Glensenyi Central Hospital.
Unlike Prussia's weapons advantage on the battlefield, in terms of medical logistics, Austria's Olmitz Fortress Hospital was much better. After four months of training and material reserves, the surgical team here has already been at the forefront of Europe.
Surgery is no longer a one-size-fits-all amputation. Relying on debridement and disinfection, limb preservation has become the mainstream here. "Rehabilitation" of wounded soldiers has replaced simple "acceptance". The only way to re-send injured soldiers to the front line is to Military hospitals exist for the most important purpose.
The success rate of the operation exceeds 60%, and the mortality rate is only 35.4%. Such beautiful data will definitely make many colleagues call it a fraud.
And this was achieved in the absence of Fortress Hospital Director Kawhi Hines.
...
The rainy weather began to affect Olmitz on the afternoon of the 28th. After combining with the cold air coming from the north, the temperature dropped by 15 degrees from the 18 degrees Celsius during the day. ….
At this time, the guards at the hospital entrance had put on thick military uniforms, but the nurses and assistants entering and exiting the door were still wearing thin coats. From the bright lights inside the door, it is easy to see how busy the hospital is. They are breathing hot air and constantly handing over information about patients, not caring about the impact of the weather changes on themselves.
On the wide street, two rows of wheels followed the footsteps of several horses that had just stepped on them, quickly crushing the water on the road, splashing water with the color of roadside lights, and speeding all the way into the gate of the Imperial Army Fortress General Hospital. .
Since receiving this "guest" at noon today, the carriage driver and the four good horses in front of him have been working continuously for more than 8 hours and are already exhausted. But the other party's military orders were overwhelming. If he couldn't get to Olmitz today, he might lose his job immediately.
Looking at the hospital in front of him, the coachman finally breathed a sigh of relief, tightened the reins and stopped the car at the door.
This is the central area of the entire military fortress. It is definitely not a mess of carriages that can get here. However, the guards still stepped forward and asked for their IDs according to the procedures. No one in the car, including Hu, opened the door directly and handed over his identity document after getting out of the car.
The guard glanced at the document and immediately stood still. He took off his military cap with his right hand and placed it on his chest. He bowed and saluted: "Sir, good evening."
"Is Hills here?"
"The acting director should still be on the operating table." The guard looked back at the hospital lobby and said.
"What about Bill Rotter?"
"I've been working since I woke up at noon, and I'm probably on the operating table now."
The person who got off the carriage looked solemn, glanced inside the carriage, and whispered to the young man lying on the seat: "Kavi, the fortress hospital is here."
"Um..." Kawei was wrapped in a blanket, and the influx of air conditioning after opening the door made him shiver: "Inform Hills and Bill Rotter and the others to go to the office with all the surgical records. I want to open the door." An emergency meeting."
"They should still be in the operating room."
Seeing that the three of them were wearing thin clothes, the guard quickly found another companion, took off his thick military uniform and handed it over: "Sir, it's cold outside..."
"Oh, thank you, no need." Kawei yawned and got out of the carriage. He thanked the driver and walked straight to the hospital lobby. "We are not guards. We will be warm as long as we enter the hospital."
Thanks to a four-month preparation period, Austria completed several of its most important telegraph lines. On the night of September 27, frontline battle reports were transmitted to the Hofburg Palace in Vienna through a temporary telegraph line.
But at that time, Kawei had just boarded the carriage and had no source of information. It was not until this morning that he learned some information at the carriage station.
Most of this news was brought by the driver from Olmitz Fortress.
The war is beyond the control of military doctors. Whether they are willing to accept it or not, the Prussian-Austrian war on the northern front is gradually expanding. As the director of the fortress hospital, he must be ready to admit more wounded soldiers at any time.
Since the fortress hospital started operating, wounded soldiers have been sent here in a steady stream. The daily number of operations in each operating room once exceeded 150 on the day the war began, and has remained at around 80 for the past two days.
Too many surgeries have caused fatigue among surgeons, and fatigue can lead to lack of concentration, resulting in surgical errors. ….
In modern surgery, technical errors will cause many postoperative problems, but with developed perioperative treatment capabilities, the consequences of most errors can be undone. But in the 19th century, supportive care was almost non-existent, and the consequences of mistakes were often unavoidable.
That's why Kawei emphasizes the stability of personal technology, because they have nothing but personal technology.
Fortunately, the conditions of the fortress hospital are no worse than any other hospital, and the supplies here are quite abundant thanks to Kawei's preparation. Perhaps at the beginning of the war, the medical response was a little stiff, but just like the newly engaged gears, after several rounds of cooperation, the entire hospital has demonstrated the value of being a center-centered hospital.
There are enough wards here, and after the 1,400 beds were filled, Hills immediately opened several more tents according to the emergency plan, and also began to contact available vacancies around the fortress.
He could not guarantee the lives of the wounded soldiers, but he could ensure that they remained in bed, that they had cloth pads under them, blankets on their bodies, sufficient water intake, and necessary medicine supplies.
Of course, in addition to this, according to Kawei's original requirements, sufficient air flow and necessary cleaning work have been maintained in the hospital.
"This is all the surgical records from the first operating room, and this is from the second operating room..." An assistant pushed a cart and piled the record books on the desk, "The third The fourth operating room is still being sorted out.”
"How is the treatment of the wounded going?"
"The enemy's firepower was very fierce, and many of the wounded soldiers were already dead when they arrived." The young assistant did not dare to send the report written by Hills, but said directly, "The surgeons in charge have done their best. real......"
"show me."
Because of the afternoon's adequate sleep and the aroma of coffee coming out of the cup, Kawei is full of energy now.
He needs to understand the processing situation of the military hospital in time, find the problem, and try to solve these problems before the next wave of wounded people are sent: "Don't worry, I am not stupid enough to blame them."
The assistant felt guilty after hearing these words.
Ever since Kawi gained real power in the hands of King Franz, his whole person had changed.
It cannot be said that he is not polite enough in dealing with others, nor can he be said that a half-way baron does not have the elegance that a nobleman should have. It can only be said that Kawei is stricter than anyone else on medical issues, especially surgery.
Even Yingnaz, who had been living with him, had difficulty understanding these changes, and in the end could only attribute them to a desire for the empire.
loyalty and sense of responsibility to military soldiers.
Kawei took a sip of coffee, smiled and asked his assistant to step back, while comforting him: "Don't worry, I only scold those who have made mistakes. What are you afraid of?"
"..."
The assistant was helpless and prepared to leave first, but he called him back just as he was about to leave: "Wait a minute, let me ask you, who performed this surgery? There is no signature of the surgeon on it, and I don't recognize the handwriting. Is it a ghostwriting assistant?"
Kavi threw the first record in his hand in front of him, and the name "Machine von Grass" was clearly written in the column of the names of the injured. The diagnosis was a bullet penetrating wound to the left calf, and the surgical procedure was "wound anesthesia + wound packing and drainage."
"Why is this treatment, which is so simple that it can't even be called surgery, happening here?"
West wind
