Royal Army Medical Corps and the chain of evacuation

According to their service records, both Herbert and Redford experienced being treated by the various stations of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

There was a well-established chain of evacuation (see also here)which started with the Regimental Aid Posts and Advanced Dressing Stations providing first aid just a few steps from the front lines. Each division also had three Field Ambulances (FA) - think M*A*S*H - attached to it, usually situated at a relatively safe distance from the front. The next step in the chain were the Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS) and finally General Hospitals which were situated some tens of kilometres behind the lines.

So-called hospital trains were used to transport cases to Channel ports where they would then be ferried over to England. One nurse's fascinating diary (gutenberg.org or LibriVox recording) tells of her work on these trains in 1914-1915.

Recovering and fit soldiers would move to an Infantry Base Depot before being passed on to their units.

Herbert's treatment at a Field Ambulance hospital in Loos

The RAMC units would have been prepared some days ahead of major attacks for the influx of wounded . The war diary of Maud McCarthy, the Matron-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force has this entry for 26th September 1915 (the second day of the Battle of Loos):

Left for 1st Army 9.30, drove by St. Pol to Lillers. Visited 6 and 9 Casualty Clearing Station and West Riding, all crowded with wounded. Everyone had been up all night and everyone, everywhere spoke of the splendid work of the Nurses. Met DG and Col. Birrell who were going round also. Left parcel of clothes, illustrated papers, mosquito nets, by the way, also fruit and cakes which I had got for the Nurses.

Noeux les Mines
Then on to 6 London Field Ambulance – difficulty in finding it – roads bad. Passed convoys and thousands of troops moving – incessant booming of guns. Hundreds of minor wounded waiting to go down. Everything orderly and quiet and everyone in wonderful spirits at the successes. Found the Field Ambulance crowded with dreadfully wounded men – only 3 Nurses – arranged to send 6 more. These have been working night and day. Three specialists operating, chest and abdominal wounds being dealt with and nursed. 

and again on the 30th September:

to Noeux les Mines – another Field Ambulance in schools of quite a different description [the one in the previous town she visited had been described as "quite excellent"]. Nothing very satisfactory. An enormous number of wounded had been dealt with and they had only been [able] to carry on, working day and night. 9 Nursing Sisters here – unable to see either the OC or the Surgeon. The French were wanting the buildings so that they were busy evacuating. Here I met thousands of French moving, most of them wearing their new shell proof helmets.

(National Archives, ref WO 95/3988)

The War Diary of the 1/6th London Field Ambulance (National Archives ref WO 95/2725/2) says this at the time:

24th: C Section left for Maroc [in Greny, quite close to Loos] to take over A[dvanced] D[ressing] Stn. Violent cannonade at night. Ambulance fully prepared for wounded. Nursing sisters [illegible] for special duty.

25th: Advance by troops. 560 cases admitted during 24 hours

26th: Heaps of wounded coming in. First Ambce [Ambulance] train arraived at Noeux les Mines to evacuate cases.

27th: 20 German wounded admitted

28th: Maj Gen Barter [of 47th Division] visited hospital and made a speech in German to prisoners

29th: Hospital cleared of wounded. 1 casualty in our unit reported.

30th Orders to move Ambce  at short notice received.

 The Battle of Loos experiences of chaplain Rev. Innes Logan can be read in Chapter 4 of the book "On the King’s Service” (Project Gutenberg). Logan was with the 2nd London (54th) CCS in Merville, a few kilometres from Loos.

The disposition of medical units during the Battle of Loos are given in the History of the Great War, Medical Services, Volume 2, by Sir W. G. Macpherson (ISBN 9781845747046).

Herbert's Casualty Form show that he was admitted to the 1/6th London FA on the 28th September 1915, the fourth day of the Battle of Loos:

Herbert's Casualty Form, showing that he was received by the (1/)6th London F[ield] Amb[ulance] with "G.S. [gunshot] abdomen" on 28/9/15

Note that the entry for the FA corrected an earlier entry stating that he had been killed in action. The date for that entry is unfortunately illegible. 

What is odd about Herbert's evacuation is that he was only brought to the field ambulance on the 28th even though his unit had already been relieved and left the battlefield on the evening of the 27th.

From the above information it would appears that his unit believed that he had been killed in action and left on the battlefield on the first day or two. Another possibility is that he had been injured and lost contact with the unit during the relief on the 27th ("the shelling was incessant particularly during the relief at 6:30pm"), although that was less likely to have been a gunshot wound. All we know for certain is that he was brought in on the 28th and "died of wounds" the next day.

What is odd is that the 1/6th London Field Ambulance unit that treated Herbert was attached to the 47th (2nd London) Division on the right side of the battlefield, not to the 21st Division on the left that he was part of, although wounded were often sent on to the nearest practicable FA or CCS on the battlefield.

It's known that the 8th East Yorks had made a navigational mistake, moving along the Lens-Bethune road - in the 47th Division's sector - and coming under fire before correcting to the left and crossing the Loos Crassier in an easterly direction which is where the 21st Division were supposed to be in action. 

Redford's trench foot

According to his Casualty Form, on 13th January 1917 Redford was admitted for treatment of a case of trench foot. This was a not uncommon condition caused by the sometimes extremely damp or wet conditions in the trenches.

Redford was passed from the 17th Division's 53rd FA (53rd Field Ambulance which at the time was situated on high ground just north of Carnoy) to the 21st CCS (Casualty Clearing Station, located in Corbie at this time) and then on to the 10th GH (General Hospital) in far-off Rouen. After a month of treatment he was marked in mid February as being "sound" by the 25th IBD (Infantry Base Depot) at Etaples.

Redford's service record showing his journey through the evacuation chain in early 1917. Form B.213 was the unit's record of effective strength, filled out each Saturday.