'Stretcher-bearers' by H.A.B. White: (1) Introduction

"Stretcher-bearers"
by
H.A.B.White

"Stretcher-bearers" gives a description of World War II as experienced by a Royal Army Medical Corps Field Ambulance unit that served mainly in France, North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Two wartime diaries and the personal accounts of seven men who served in the unit, as well as over 100 letters written home from battle zones, tell the story.
Like scores of other medical units this one, as in all other engagements, went into action armed with stretchers, becoming part of the British Expeditionary Force in France. At that time it consisted mainly of regulars soldiers, well trained in treating the sick and, to a much smaller extent, battle casualties.
The retreat from Dunkirk caused the Army to reorganise in Britain. During this phoney period, when we were expecting invasion, digging a hasty third line of defence, training to cope with gas, being posted out on farm work, and experiencing air raids, the Army reached a high peak of fitness by methods both conventional and bizarre.
In June 1942, this Field Ambulance joined the newly formed 78th Division which invaded North Africa on November 8th, as part of the 1st Army. By that time men of widely differing views on war had joined the unit. Most had one emotion in common. To the plaintive cry in battle of "Stretcher-bearers!" hearts sank into boots.
The unit served in North Africa, and then, as part of the 8th Army, in Sicily and Italy. Whenever casualties were expected in appreciable numbers, men from "A" and "B" companies of Field Ambulances relieved or augmented regimental stretcher-bearers, manning Regimental Aid Posts and Advanced Dressing Stations. Headquarters company normally served in the Main Dressing Stations.
With the invasion of France in June 1944, Italy understandably, became a backwater. Some war correspondents wrote of "D Day dodgers relaxing in sunny Italy." Those who stayed in Italy to cover trench warfare in the northern Apennines during the winter of 1944-45 drew a more accurate picture..
0n May 2nd, 1945, the Germans armies in Italy surrendered. By that time a third of the unit whose strength was some 180 personnel, excluding 58 Royal Army Service Corps personnel who drove the ambulances, had been killed, wounded or listed as missing,
Many books about World War II rightly extol acts of bravery and masterly strategic movements. This account tackles the sordid nature of warfare: the stench of the battlefield, treatment of hopelessly wounded men, gas gangrene, trench foot, and ailments often kept dark, such as nervous exhaustion.
War is indeed a stinking business which regimental medical officers, regimental stretcher-bearers and Field Ambulance units could not fail to realise.
* * *
"Stretcher-bearers" has taken several years to complete, involving research in depth, especially where the experiences of others have been included and parts of the diaries have required fuller explanation. Official sources have resolved several queries.
Names of places, units and men, changed in the original diaries have been restored, with very few exceptions. For example, where men were sent down the line with nervous exhaustion, I have not given their correct names. Anyone faced with the problems they encountered, might well have acted as they did.
The motto of the R.A.M.C.. is "In arduis fidelis", "Faithful under difficulties." Most members of the unit lived up to the motto. Some sacrificed their lives in so doing.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.