Chapter 85 – Jayjay

Details from Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914-1918, Volume 1, Part 1: The Gallipoli Campaign by Arthur Butler:

p. 87-88 – The diversion of Australian forces from England to Egypt resulted in increased expectations being placed on medical services in Egypt. The Australian hospitals were not intended to constitute a full hospital provision for the force.

p. 282 – “Amid the extreme secrecy required by this elaborate plan [of the August offensive] the medical service was insufficiently and tardily forewarned; the medical arrangements as a whole were a week late.”  In addition, Commander in Chief Hamilton reduced casualty estimates associated with the offensive from 30,000 to 20,000.

p. 326 – During the August offensive, “…the seriously wounded suffered greatly—as they always did—through the disorganisation and delay in their progress through to the base where they would obtain effective treatment.”

p. 340 – In Late August Commander in Chief Hamilton expressed his satisfaction… “the business of evacuation had passed off practically without a hitch.”

Details from Gallipoli – An Australian Medical Perspective by Micheal Tyquin:

p. 66 – Open was ether used as anaesthetic for amputations.

p. 82 – An account of a transport ship used to evacuate wounded from Suvla Bay during the August offensive, includes: “Many wounds had become flyblown and septic during the delay, and numerous amputations had to be performed that could have been avoided by earlier evacuation.”

Details from The Other Anzacs – Nurses at War, 1914-1918 by Peter Rees:

p. 78-9 – A description by a nurse of a 20 year old patient trying to drink self to death with neat whiskey on a ship from Egypt to Australia, after having a forearm amputated following a grenade injury at Gallipoli.

Details from The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt in 1914-15 , by James Barret and Persival Deane (1918):

p. 60-62 – Bravery and ingenuity of Australian soldiers caused discipline problems for convalescent soldiers, including leaving the hospital without approval and drunkenness.