WW1-65 GERMAN INFANTRY 1914/15 FIRST AID STATION 01

At the start of World War I, in August 1914, the army of imperial Germany was considered the best and most efficient in the Old Continent. Such a conviction resulted mainly from the fame of the victories won in the course of the wars with Austria in 1866 and with France in the years 1870-1871. Also, many organizational solutions used at that time in the Prussian army, and later in the German army (e.g. strategic railway lines or mobilization techniques) were copied in other European countries. As in the French and Russian armies, the largest number of armed forces in the German army in 1914 was infantry. The German infantryman at that time was his main armament with the successful 7.92mm Mauser Gewehr 98 rifle, and on his head he wore the famous pickelhaub - so mercilessly used as a symbol of German militarism in the caricature of the Entente countries. It is worth adding that the German infantry uniform was much less colorful than its French counterpart. At the outbreak of the Great War, the German corps consisted of the headquarters, 2 infantry divisions, a heavy artillery squadron (16 150 mm caliber howitzers), a communications battalion, a searchlight company and an air company. The infantry division in turn consisted of two brigades, each of them two infantry regiments. On the other hand, a single infantry regiment consisted of 3 battalions and a machine gun company of 6 heavy machine guns. It is worth adding that the infantry division was supported by an artillery brigade of 72 guns. Of course, in the course of World War I, the German infantry underwent far-reaching changes. First of all, a steel helmet (German Stahlhelm) was introduced into the weaponry, which, with minor changes, survived in the German armed forces until the end of World War II! Hand grenades, gas masks and light machine guns (German: leichte Maschinengewehr - abbreviated as lMG) also began to be used on a large scale. Branches such as Stosstruppen also appeared.At the start of World War I, in August 1914, the army of imperial Germany was considered the best and most efficient in the Old Continent. Such a conviction resulted mainly from the fame of the victories won in the course of the wars with Austria in 1866 and with France in the years 1870-1871. Also, many organizational solutions used at that time in the Prussian army, and later in the German army (e.g. strategic railway lines or mobilization techniques) were copied in other European countries. It is worth mentioning that the German field medical services were also set at a relatively high level. At the beginning of the war, he was their superior Generaloberarzt Otto von Schjerning, who - what is worth adding - was a trained military doctor. In the headquarters of each German Army there was in turn Armme-Arzt, i.e. a high-ranking officer responsible for the entire functioning of the medical service in the area of operation of the Army and its rear services. In 1914, in each corps of the German army there were 12 field hospitals and 3 sanitary companies (German: Sanitätskompanien), but in 1915 the number of field hospitals was reduced to 6 per corps, while some of them were subordinated to divisions. In 1914, each division was assigned two "stretcher" companies, in 1915 this number was reduced to one, but at the turn of 1916/1917 it was again increased to two. It is worth adding that at the level of a single regiment, a senior medical officer was responsible for medical service, and at the level of a battalion - two junior medical officers. These officers were also assigned 4-5 non-commissioned officers and 16 "stretchers" at the battalion level. During the trench war (from the beginning of 1915), each company usually had a first aid point at its immediate backstage. However, the superior unit to it was the so-called regimental medical care point (Ger. Truppenverbandplatz). It is estimated that in the period from the summer of 1914 to the summer of 1918 to the German medical services cared for about 27 million wounded, injured and sick people. Out of this number, as many as 95% returned to active service, and only about 2% died in hospitals or medical aid points.