On the Fringe of the Great FightNasmith, George Gallie
History
On the Fringe of the Great Fight
Nasmith, George Gallie
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
The trees in Le Bois were just bursting into leaf on that first Sunday
of mid March. The rented boats on the little lakes were filled with
young boys and their sweethearts, and they splashed up and down and
ran into each other, and made much noise after the manner of people of
that age under similar circumstances the world over.
Crossing the Seine we ascended the hill to the race course of St.
Cloud, from which a magnificent view of Paris is obtainable. It was a
splendid situation for the French Canadian hospital established there
under the command of Lt.-Col. Mignault of Montreal.
The French authorities did not want the wounded from Verdun to come to
the Paris hospitals, for it might depress the people too much. So,
though Verdun was at its height, no wounded were seen in Paris and the
hospitals in fact were almost empty at the time. And as the Parisians
did not see any evidence of great losses through the presence of
wounded, it was quite natural to conclude that there could not be many
wounded. If not why worry, for the newspapers were full of the
tremendous casualties inflicted on the enemy? The French army must be
very good to be able to hold the German back like that, must it not?
So Paris was optimistic and the wounded went elsewhere to the country
where it was said the air was much better than in a large city like
Paris.
The French Canadian hospital, however, was not going to be done out of
the work that they had come so far to do, and demanded patients. As
the hospital was situated in the suburbs (where the air was presumably
good) permission was granted and it was filled with wounded from
Verdun on the following day.
Though not fully completed when I saw it, the hospital was in running
order. It consisted of a series of wooden huts arranged in the area
behind the grand stand, and had just enough shade trees around to
shelter the huts partially from the sun. It was always a marvel to me
to see soldiers recovering from what have always been considered to be
fatal wounds. I saw one man that day at St. Cloud who had been shot
through the centre of the forehead two days before at Verdun, the
bullet coming out of the top of his head, and leaving the brain
exposed. The man was sitting up in bed reading and when the wet
dressing was raised by the surgeon one could see the brain pulsating.
Of the meetings of the War Allies' Sanitary Commission there is little
to be said because they were of a technical nature, and chiefly of
interest to scientists. The first meeting was held on March the 15th
and one was held thereafter every afternoon for the next three weeks,
with the exception of Sundays. About thirty-five delegates were
present altogether, representing the civilian, naval and military
services of Russia, Italy, Serbia, France, Belgium and Great Britain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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