Medical services in the First World War / Susan Cohen.

Trench warfare, advances in weaponry and disastrous military planning led to horrific types of injuries and an unprecedented scale of mass casualties during World War I. This is the amazing and little known story of the medical service personnel and the organized system of critical care which provided a lifeline of hope and humanity in the midst of devastation, disfigurement and death during the Great War. For the first time ever, an all-out effort was made to preserve life, starting with the heroic medical service personnel who were the battlefield first line of defense, risking life and limb to save and extract wounded soldiers and evacuate them to makeshift frontline hospitals or to long-term care facilities such as Highclere Castle, as depicted in Downton Abbey, when hospitals were filled beyond capacity. The book details their heroism and the vital role played by nurses in attending to the medical and psychological needs and boosting the morale of millions of wounded soldiers.