History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents Medical Services General History

Abstract

THIS is the final volume of the general history of the Medical Services during the War, and is perhaps the most readable. The ground covered is adequately expressed in the title. The book shows the great and varied difficulties which had to be contended with, and while it is clear that towards the end of the campaigns the problems were mastered to a certain extent, there were deplorable breakdowns in the Dardanelles, Mesopotamia, and East Africa, some being so notorious as to lead to Parliamentary inquiries. These disasters are attributed mostly to lack of preparation before the campaigns started, but the editors, naturally perhaps, do not commit themselves to an exact statement as to the rank and position of those actually concerned. They admit, however, that “in some respects the administration of the Medical Services was a factor in the breakdowns.”