Medical Service of the German Army

[tigre]

Hello to all, in this article you will find out how the German Army took care of its sick and wounded men in the Poland Campaign.

The Organization of the Medical Service of the German Army
and its Employment in the Campaign Against Poland
(An article by Lieut. Colonel H. Hartleben, Medical Corps, German Army. Military Review, Sep 1940).

The medical service, as well as other branches of the Army, finds itself faced with new missions, new tasks and new problems as a result of the changes brought about in modern warfare by motorization and mechanization. The Campaign in Poland ofered the first opportunity to test the organization of the medical services of the German Army in this new warfare.

The two main problems that must be solved by a military medical service are:
( 1) The problem of providing the best medical supply system that is possible under warfare conditions,and (2) The problem of transportation, especially in a war of movement. A simplification of these problems will result if the organization of the medical service is so elastic as to meet the various requirements of war under all conditions and if it is founded on the simplest and most uniform basic elements possible in order to measure up to the
requirements of the various types of combat elements.

The medical service of the German Army, as in any army, emanates from the combat units. Every soldier carries one large and one small first aid packet and is trained in the application of these dressings. The medical personnel of the combat units includes litter bearers with special training in first aid and the transportation of the wounded. In addition, a medical noncommisioned officer or private with thoroughand careful training in medical service is assigned to each unit. All of the medical personnel, including the litter bearers, carry on their belt a medical kit for first aid. The litters consist of two equal-sized collapsible halves; they are so constructed that the bearers can easily carry and assemble them with few manipulations. Conditions permitting, the litters may be transported on two-wheeled carriers.

The infantry battalion is accompanied by two medical officers-the battalion medical officer and his assistant. Their equipment contains quantities of medicine and dressings sufficient to meet the demands of major operations. Included are tetanus antitoxin and a “pack filter apparatus” for the purification of water derived from any source. This equipment, packed in chests, is carried on a special medical equipment car. Small units may carry enough of this equipment to meet their own demands.

In combat, the equipment of the battalion medical officer, together with his personal equipment which he carries with him in a leather case, serves for the establishment of the battalion aid station. This aid station is located as near to the actual front as possible. As a rule, the wounded receive their first aid by a medical officer at this station, unless such aid has been rendered in battle. Aid by a surgeon-specialist usually cannot be given at the battalion aid station, and no provisions are made for it.

The medical service within the infantry battalion is, thus, conducted independently by its own medical officers and their assistants-the medical NCO’S and privates. The medical service of the other arms is carried out in a similar manner, though with less personnel and equipment. Provisions are made for support by medical companies which go into action when casualties are heavy and serve mainly for the purpose of collecting the wounded in the zone of action.

From the battalion medical detachment, the medical service passes to the medical elements of the division. They comprise normally:
Two medical companies;
One motorized field hospital (accommodations for 200 patients) ;
Two motor ambulance trains (15 motor ambulances each).

These elements are under the command of the division medical officer. Depending upon the type of division, the medical companies are either horse-drawn, motorized, or one company may be motorized and the other horse-drawn. In the case of very highly mobile units, the field hospital is omitted and replaced by a third motor ambulance train, in order to meet the constant transportation requirements.

Both on the march and in combat, the medical companies constitute the main factor of the division medical service. Each company consists of three platoons, each of which has a separate function. The first platoon is made up entirely of litter bearers who collect the wounded in the field and evacuate them from the battalion aid stations. The second platoon organizes the division aid station; it includes at least one surgeon-specialist. The third platoon may be used in support of the other two platoons or for independent missions. Near the division aid station elements of the medical company may be used to establish the collecting station for slightly wounded.

The employment of two medical comptmies in the division makes for great mobility of the medical service. It permits the medical service to keep up with the advance of the combat units and, iu cases where the two companies ape employed separately or in relief, to carry out the surgical work and to evacuate the casualties in a normal manner. It permits the establishment of two medical centers behind the combat troops where the operations cover a wide front. Besides, both comfxmies nmy be employed jointly under favorable conditions. Thus the medical service of the division is elastic enough to conform to any number of changes in the situation.

The equipment of a mwhcal company includes canvas for the erection of the division aid station (where buildings are not available) and modern surgical equipment. Like the battalion medical equipment, the equipment of the medical company is suitably packed in individual chests. Four horse-drawn or motor ambulances are assigned to the company.

The division aid station is the first place at which surgical aid is rendered. Here the wounded are examined as their fitness for removal, their condition is improved and emergency operations are performed. The duties of the division aid station are limited to these functions because of the necessity of maintaining the mobility of the medical companies and of their remaining as near to the combat units as possible—three or four miles behind the front line.

Surgical activity within the division is centered further back in the surgical hospital, where the routine should be similar to that of a regular hospital in the zone of the interior. Its equipment is somewhat larger and heavier than that of the division aid station. The surgical hospital is motorized and can follow the division quickly upon being relieved by other medical units. If necessary, a second surgical hospital may be moved up to support the division surgical hospital, until relief arrives.

The division evacuates its sick and wounded mainly by means of its motor ambulance trains, part of which may be used for the evacuation of patients from the aid stitions to the rear or to the division surgical hospital. The motor ambulance trains serve also for the transportation of wounded to collecting stations or hospitals in the communications zone. The motor ambulance of the German Army accommodates four lying, or two lying and four sitting, or eight sitting patients. A number of motor ambulances are equipped for cross-country travel.

The division medical service as outlined above may be reinforced temporarily, if necessary, by additional medical elements. Besides, surgical hospitals of the army unit may be employed in all zones if circumstances call for such reinforcements, as, for instance, in the case of epidemics.

A corps medical officer is designated to supervise the execution of the directives from the army medical service, to supervise the progress of the division medical service and to take such corrective action as he may find necessary. He is authorized to shift the medical elements within the division for the pourpose of balancing their strength. He also has at his disposal special medical elements which he may employ whenever the divisions call for help. He may also call upon the army chief medical officer for additional medical units if required.

The purpose of the organization of the medical service above the division is to regulate and execute the evacuation of patients to the rear, and to sort the sick and wounded according to medical requirements. All of this belongs to the functions of the army chief medical officer. Depending upon the hize of the army, he has at his disposal a varying number of medical units, especially motorized surgical hospitals designed for local support of the division medical services. For evacuation purposes, he has under his command a number of motor ambulance trains organized like those of the divisions. These medical units are combined into an army medical detachment.

Each army has two evacuation battalions. They are organized into three companies of three platoons each. Each platoon is equipped to set up a separate collecting station. The collecting stations serve merely as transfer stations where the patients receive simple medical attention and are afforded rest and food for brief periods. These stations are placed at points where the situation indicates a concentration of wounded and also at points where the sick and wounded must be distributed among the various hospitals in the communications zone or loaded on hospital trains.

The hospitals in the communications zone are divided into hospitals for the slightly wounded and hospitals for the seriously wounded; each numbers up to 500 beds. They are equipped as much like regular hospitals as possible and contain special wards under the direction of surgeon-specialists. Where local hospitals are available, they are, of course, put into service. Other large buildings may also he used to house the hospitals. The mobile hospital equipment includes as standard equipment capable X-ray apparatus and dark room equipment, all suitably packed in chests.

In order to keep the medical services with combat units properly supplied at all times a medical supply depot is allocated to each army. This army depot may establish branch depots where and when it deems such stations necessary.

The officers of the medical service are picked for their professional ability as well as for their qualities as leaders. Assigned to the chief medical officers of the armies as consultants are carefully selected and recognized specialists in their profession—generally university professors. The latter assist the medical officers of the various medical establishments either with advice or, when necessary, actual help.

In addition, the army chief medical officer has at his disposal special groups of auxiliary surgeons. These surgeons, carrying their own sets of surgical instruments, go into action where their assistance is most urgent, be it at the division surgical hospital or the division aid stations. It was demonstrated in the Polish campaign that it is not advisable to send these surgeons any further forward than the division aid station.

The German Army entered the war against Poland with a medical service organized along the lines described above, and found that no material changes were necessary in that organization—that it could solve all the prohlems with which it was confronted.

Chief among the problems encountered was that of transportation, for not only did the military operations proceed at an extraordinary pace but. the road conditions in Poland were decidedly poor. Nevertheless the elasticity and the simplicity of the organization enabled the medical service to keep itself and its supplies moving forward with the cormbat units while casualties were being evacuated with a maximum of efficiency and speed.

The motorized medical units bore the brunt of the burden, the horse-drawn medical companies being unable to keep up with the swiftness of the military operations. The motor ambulance trains performed tremendous feats. Thanks to the motorization of the division surgical hospitals, they were able to follow the combat units at a relatively fast pace. In many instances, the hospital units established themselves quickly in local hospitals, schools or other public buildings, even though the primitive conditions in certain parts of Poland made it necessary frequently to resort to auxiliary measures.

The great distances that the medical units were required to cover could have been fatal to wounded whose condition called for special treatment in clinics located in the zone of the interior. The large number of demolished railroad bridges were quickly repaired, however, thus permitting the use of the specially equipped hospital trains for the evacuation of patients by rail to the zone of the interior. In very serious cases, such as gunshot wounds of the eye or skull and fractures of the femur, patients were evacuated by aircraft-either in ambulance planes or in the regular transport planes. Evacuation by air over great distances proved highly satisfactory, particularly since no major variances in altitude were involved.

In view of the prevalence of centers of communicable diseases in Poland, a certain number of losses due to various kinds of diseases was anticipated. However, every German soldier being inoculated against typhoid fever, the number of typhoid cases was extremely small. Dysentery cases occurred, for the troops had to march through many regions where that disease was common. Well trained in hygiene, the troops succeeded in keeping the disease down and prevented the spread of a regular dysentery epidemic. There was not a single case of smallpox among the soldiers. The inoculation of all wounded against tetanus proved a complete success. Lockjaw has lost its terror as a war disease.

The casualties were relatively small. Official figures have been released, placing the killed at 10,000 and the wounded at 30,000. Thus the ratio of killed and wounded is 1:3, a somewhat higher ratio than that of the war of 1914. The higher ratio can probably be attributed to the numerous engagements fought at close range and to the increase in effectiveness of modern weapons.

Pictures source: http://users.skynet.be/ermeton1914/index.html

I hope this article be of interest. Best Regards. Tigre.

[Christoph Awender]

Nice summary. Thanks for posting!

\Christoph

[tigre]

Hello to all ; some pictures.........

Sources: Sales List. Historical Media, LLC. Sábado, 20 de Septiembre de 2008.

Feliz Navidad - Feliz Natal - Frohe Weihnachten - Joyeux Noël - Merry Christmas.

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more pictures.........

Sources: Sales List. Historical Media, LLC. Sábado, 20 de Septiembre de 2008.

Cheers. Raúl M .

[Larrister]

Thankyou Tigre for the informative article. I have several Heer sanitats photo albums in my collection.



Cheers,

Larry

[tigre]

Thanks for joining Larry . Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; something more................

Transport of wounded.

In Russia the transport of wounded represented the most difficult problem due to the fast advance until 1942 and the difficulties of the ground in that area. For a haul distance of 50 km it was lasted normally from 5 to 8 hours and the ambulances sometimes remained all night bogged down in the mud.

Besides during the transport with vehicles non-equipped like ambulances, it appeared additional problems that complicated the wounded health, especially just operated, by air strikes, artillery or mines; accidents like crash car or vehicles slipped outside the routes or bridges. The heat, the cold, the dust, the continuous vibrations and movements were sources of additional damages.

For tactical reasons, the wounded could not remain frequently in the hospital. Generally, one treated that the severely woundeds were evacuated of the medical facilities. When this was not possible, there was a medical staff which remained to take care of the wounded.

Sources: Der Weltkrieg in seiner rauhen Wirklichkeit 1939 -1945. The World War in its rough reality 1939 -1945. HUGE GERMAN ARMY WARTIME PHOTO BOOK OF WWII , Scarce! - eBay (item 360146099745 end time Apr-20-09 071204 PDT)
Die Kriegschirurgie von 1939-1945 aus der Sicht der Beratenden Chirurgen des deutschen Heeres im Zweiten Weltkrieg
Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Medizinischen Doktorgrades der Medizinischen Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau-

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; the second part of it................

Transport of wounded.

The best assets for transport of wounded soldiers before terrible road conditions was not the terrestrial way but the airplane. In the east and North Africa it was often used the small liaison airplane denominated Fieseler Storch (Fi-156) which had the VSTOL capacity hence it could land in the environs of the wounded personnel and with some adjustments it could transport one or two soldiers severely wounded. Thus the wounded of bullet in the head, abdomen either lungs could be transported quickly to the aid station of the division or to a field hospital. The effective support that offers the medical aircraft generally was for injuries in the eyes, the jaw and in the brain, the shots in the lung; serious fractures in the extremities and fractures due shots. Thus it was reported that the wounded with shots in the lung and thorax evacuated out of Africa towards Athens tolerated the transport if it took place flying at low level.

For the aerial transport from the aid stations of the division or from the field hospitals towards the homeland, they were available the Ju-52 prepared like ambulance planes. The flights were programmed early in the morning or to the dusk.

Nevertheless most of the medical evacuations by air were realised by common cargo planes. However additional damages were not reported for that reason. The variation in the air pressure can generate a breakage of the brain crust due to a cerebral inflammation; in the case of shots in the belly an increase in the corporal gasification and the abdominal distención can happen among others things. Nevertheless these disturbances usually happen to altitudes of 3 to 4,000 meters, flight altitudes that were not normal for the cargo planes.

With respect to the aerial transport it often occurred that many cases of cerebral injuries and shots in the spine without prospectus were evacuated by air, whereas fractures of femur by shots and serious injuries of knee were transported by terrestrial way in harmful conditions that affected their quick and completes recovery.

Sources: Der Weltkrieg in seiner räuhen wirklichkeit 1939 -1945. The World War in its rough reality 1939 -1945. HUGE GERMAN ARMY WARTIME PHOTO BOOK OF WWII , Scarce! - eBay (item 360146099745 end time Apr-20-09 071204 PDT)
Die Kriegschirurgie von 1939-1945 aus der Sicht der Beratenden Chirurgen des deutschen Heeres im Zweiten Weltkrieg Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Medizinischen Doktorgrades der Medizinischen Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau.

It's all folks. Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; some pictures................

Transport of wounded. Aerial Casevac with a Fi-156.

Source: Tank Magazine Nº10 1984. Operation Zitadelle, Battle of Kursk. With pictures from the Bundesarchiv.

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; something more about the Fi-156.................

Sources: Fi-156 Vol II. Dariusz Karnas y Pawel Przymus. Varsovia 1999.

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; something more.....................

Medical units of the 268 ID.

A Medical company was organized as follows in 1939:

Squad Staff.

Medical officer (Chief of Company), pharmacist, Sergeant major paramedic, sergeant of the vehicles’ squad, writers, 2 couriers, 1 driver and 1 horseholder.
Total: 1 officer, 1 official, 2 sergeants, 5 men, 3 horses, 1 car, 1 side-car, 1 motorcycle.

Communications group:

Telephone squad with a sergeant and three operators.
Total: 1 sergeant and three soldiers.

1. Section (Ambulance - Krankenträgerzug).

Medical officer as a platoon leader, three stretcher-bearers group leaders, 41 stretcher-bearers and 5 coachmen.
Total: 1 officer, 3 NCOs and 46 men, 10 cart horses, 1 horse, 5 horse drawn Vehicles.

2. Section (Main Aid Station - Hauptverbandplatzzug).

Medical officer as a platoon leader, 1 assistant surgeon as surgeon, 2 auxiliary doctors, 6 sergeants paramedics (1 orthopedic surgery, 1 instrumentalist, 2 aids of operations, 1 facilities, 1 of disinfection), 8 soldiers paramedic, 20 stretcher-bearers.
Total: 4 officers, 6 NCOs, 40 men, 4 cart horses (heavy), 12 cart horses (light), 4 horses (ride), 7 horse drawn vehicles.

3. Section (complement).

Sergeant major as platoon leader; 3 groups of Stretcher-bearers; 3 group leaders, 24 stretcher-bearers; group aid station; a paramedic as group commander, 4 soldiers paramedic, 10 stretcher-bearers, 2 coachmen.
Total: 5 NCOs, 40 men, 2 cart horses (heavy), 2 cart horses (light), 2 horse drawn vehicles.

Logistic train.

Personnel of quartermaster corps, sergeant of transport, sergeant of supplyings, 3 coachmen, 2 cookers.
Total 1 official, 2 sergeants, 7 soldiers, 2 cart horses (heavy), 4 cart horses (light), 3 horse drawn vehicles, 1 motorcycle.

Source: http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... ankp-R.htm

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; something more.....................

Medical units of the 268 ID.

1. / Sanitäts-Kompanie 268
2. / Sanitäts-Kompanie 268
1. / Krankenkraftwagenzug 268
2. / Krankenkraftwagenzug 268
Feldlazarett 268

Sources: Militär Fotoalbum @ Westwall Frankreichfeldzug 1940 bei eBay_de 1918-1945 (endet 25_02_08 101347 MEZ).
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... 68ID-R.htm

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; something more.....................

Medical units of the 268 ID.

Sources: Militär Fotoalbum @ Westwall Frankreichfeldzug 1940 bei eBay_de 1918-1945 (endet 25_02_08 101347 MEZ).
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... 68ID-R.htm

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; something more.....................

Medical units of the 268 ID.

Sources: Militär Fotoalbum @ Westwall Frankreichfeldzug 1940 bei eBay_de 1918-1945 (endet 25_02_08 101347 MEZ).
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... 68ID-R.htm

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; something more.....................

Medical units of the 268 ID.

Fall Rot.

On Jun 06 1940, the AR 268 took firing positions around Farschweiler.

Since Jun 14 1940 the AR 268 opened fire from Fraschweiler in the direction of Cappel in order to furnish support to the infantry attack against the Maginot Line. The march was resumed next day following the enemy’s withdrawal.

Sources: Militär Fotoalbum @ Westwall Frankreichfeldzug 1940 bei eBay_de 1918-1945 (endet 25_02_08 101347 MEZ).
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... 68ID-R.htm

Cheers. Raúl M .