" Medical troops" Topic

Little but interesting diorama about german medical troops in WW2.

From
link

Question:
Comparing the medical services of the Germans, British and Americans in the battle front, do you consider that there were large differences existed concerning to equipment and speed of care for the wounded?.
Which Army had the best service on WW2?.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Amicalement
Armand

The US Medical Service. Robert

UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II

The Technical Services

THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT:

MEDICAL SERVICE IN THE

MEDITERRANEAN AND

MINOR THEATERS

link

UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II

The Technical Services

THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT:

MEDICAL SERVICE IN THE

European Theater of Operations

PDF link

Which Army had the best service on WW2?

BY '44 the German Army was mostly reliant on horse drawn vehicles while the Allies ahd thousands of motor vehicles. In treating casualties at this period, speed of evacuation was the essence (the concept of stablising a casualty on the battlefield was in it's infancy). Thus the Allied mediacl services had lots of advantages over the Germans.

The germans also used paper bandages, to the considerable horror of some allied POW.

So, the USA troops again (like salary).
Many thanks.
I guess that the british with their long experience had the higher standart.

Amicalement
Armand

"I guess that the british with their long experience had the higher standart."

"Higher standard" for what?

There is also this good site about the US WWII Combat Medics,
link

Then there is this,
"German Medical Services" from Tactical and Technical Trends

The following U.S. report on German army medical services was originally printed in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 35, October 7, 1943.
link

And,
"Notes on Japanese Medical Services" from Tactical and Technical Trends

A report on Japanese military medical services in WWII, from Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 36, October 21, 1943.
link

Robert

As a matter of general interest was the all white helmet used during WW2? I had thought that the white disc with a red cross was used during the war and that the all white helmet for red cross usage was a post war product.

Can any experts comment?

I have never seen an all white German helmet with red crosses like that in the above diorama.

Most common among the illustrations of German medics I have seen are the white disc with red cross on the helmet that you mentioned, white armbands with red cross (sometimes worn on both arms), and the large white bib with red cross worn over the chest.

American and British Commonwealth Medical services were both generally very good throughout the war. The availability of antibiotics helped of course. Even in extreme conditions wih minimal resources eg the Thai-Burma railway the medical services performed miracles.

The Australain Medical Histories are available here: link

The German & Italian services were under-resourced & overstretched, the Russians even more so. Japanese medical services, like most other logistics, were lacking.

Further to the white German medic helmet, it seems to feature in a couple of Dragon sets:

Which isn't to say it's necessarily accurate of course ! If anyone has a historical reference to cite I'd be interested now my curiosity has been roused…

I've always been amazed that in a 15,000 man US division, 2,000 of those were medical personnel.

My copy of the US Army handbook suggests there were about 1,000; still a large number but not as many as you have quoted so I am wondering where your number comes from.

This site is very informative,
The WW2 Medical Battalion, Infantry Division
med-dept.com/med_bat.php

Robert

do you use medical units in your games? just curious

The white helmet (along with the white tabard, bearing a red cross) was indeed an official piece of German military medical dress, though less visible options were frequently worn instead.

I get the same 1000 men (give or take) for the US Army Medical personnel totalling up the figures from Yves Bellanger's book. It confused me somewhat for a while that the Inf, Arty and Engrs all had attached Medical, plus the Med Bn itself.

A late war British Inf Div actually had around the same, approx 950, in its Med units, but not all of those were cap badged RAMC personnel. That also excludes unit MOs and the inf stretcher-bearers, who may have received additional training at unit level.

Hard to say which was the most effective medical arm of the war. Those with the higher percentage of casualties who survived their wounds once entering the evacuation system would be in with a good shout, but preventative medicine and basics like dental care for troops in the field are also factors.

Gary

Hagenthedwarf: I was just reading Ernie Pyle's "Brave Men" (great book) and he stated 2,000. But I recall reading another book a few years ago about the US Army in WWII and it stated 2,500. I'll have to try and track that down.

[q] This site is very informative, [/q]

Yes; I get lost in the detail!

[q] do you use medical units in your games? just curious [/q]

When younger yes because they were quite tactical; now the battles are at a higher level so tending the wounded does not feature.

[q] Hagenthedwarf: I was just reading Ernie Pyle's "Brave Men" (great book) and he stated 2,000. But I recall reading another book a few years ago about the US Army in WWII and it stated 2,500. I'll have to try and track that down. [/q]

No surprise then if the Americans ran out of riflemen; they were all acting as medics!

Brian L Davis' book on German Army Uniforms has a photo of a medic wearing a white helmet, though with no red cross, a white (or off-white) tunic with the red cross tabard over it and a red cross armband on his left arm. The comment is made that it was worn extensively during all stages of the Normandy fighting, and thereafter to the end of the war.

I also have 'The German Army Medical Corps in WWII' by Buchner. In it there are no photos of a red cross steel helmet being worn, and only one photo of the red cross tabards in use. There is though a nice photo of a 'trained medical dog' with red cross emblem on its collar!

I doubt they wore that on the Russian front, as neither side cared about them being medics. I also want to say that the Germans wore a tied piece of white cloth with a red cross that fastened over their blouse.

@Gary K,

I seem to remember that a really long time back there was a quite detailed discussion on your old site about medics. In particular, in which areas of the conflict their role as non-combatants was mutually respected vs places where it was not, and as a result in which circumstances they typically carried arms for personal defence. Just wondered if any of that info is preserved somewhere ?

That's going back a long way, though I think I vaguley recall the discussion. It might have saved somewhere on Wayback I suppose?

Gary

Several American units adopted all white helmets after noting the German ones. The US also used both white circles with red crosses and white squares with red crosses.

Nice one Piers !

While watching 1945 German newsreel footage I spotted this and remembered this thread..

Ardenne offensive, all white helmet with red cross which appears to be over the top as per Piers's photos or towards the front.

link

I've also seen them where the red cross is centred on the crown of the helmet and the four arms extend all the way down to the rim.