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Experiences of the Great War

Dressing station and asylum

The dressing station was the first proper port of call for wounded troops behind the lines during the First World War. Doctors would assess the severity of the men's injuries and if necessary the soldiers would be sent off for further treatment.

Given the huge number of wounded, the task that confronted the doctors and nurses must have been daunting.

From the dressing station, Lance Corporal Ramage was transported to the 'asylum' or hospital in Ypres, where he encountered a grim scene on his arrival on 19 June 1915:

'Got mug of hot cocoa — no other hot food in the place — lots of wounded less badly damaged than I was — several young keen looking doctors very busy dressing wounds in an improvised operation room — men stretched with bare limbs over tables, moaning and yelling as broken bones were set and bad wounds plugged — no anaesthetics — no cutting as far as I could see … many stretcher cases covered with blankets lying all along the corridor — poor devils how I pitied them — how helpless these men looked — now maimed after doing their best.'

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