4.5 Terrible injuries

Many soldiers suffered terrible injuries during the Great War, both physical and psychological. With so many wounded soldiers, armies set up systems to assess quickly the severity of injuries and then to dispatch patients to first aid, base hospitals or hospitals back home. The films on this page show various efforts to help injured men.

AMPUTEES LEARN TO USE ARTIFICIAL LIMBS
1 MIN 45 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1916

In Roehampton, Greater London, during 1916, amputees practice using their new artificial limbs. The film also shows some of the physical activities that wounded men took part in during their recovery, such as football, tug of war, walking and wheelchair racing.

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MEDICINE
0 MINS 50 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1917

Wounded British servicemen are carried on stretchers onto a Cunard ocean liner for a trip designed to provide some rest and recuperation. The film shows entertainers aboard who perform for the soldiers.

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PORTABLE HOSPITAL

0 MINS 37 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1917

Soldiers unload building materials from a truck and construct a makeshift hospital out of corrugated metal.

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WAR NEUROSES - PART ONE

11 mins 0 secs, Silent, B/W, 1917, 1918

Contains distressing footage.

This film, entitled War Neuroses, was shot at Netley Hospital in 1917 and Seale Hayne Military Hospital in 1918. It details the treatment of various soldiers suffering from shell shock, including Private Preston, who crawls under his hospital bed upon hearing the word 'bombs'.

Continued in Part 2.