A Surgeon in Khaki

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A Surgeon in Khaki

Through France and Flanders in World War I

Arthur Anderson Martin
Introduction by Glyn Harper

320 pages
26 illustrations, 1 map

Paperback

April 2011

978-0-8032-3492-5

$19.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

Considered by critics to be an accurate portrayal of frontline medical conditions, A Surgeon in Khaki is New Zealand surgeon Arthur Anderson Martin’s account of his experiences in 1914, early in World War I. Already a well-respected and widely traveled surgeon when war broke out, Martin joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. Under Field Marshal Sir John French, he served at Le Havre, Harfleur, and at the battle of the Marne. He marched to Aisne, to the new lines behind La Bassée, and finally to Flanders. During his entire service, he advocated immediate specialist surgery for the direst wounds, even under fire.
 
In this engaging narrative, the reader experiences the daily life of war through the eyes of the medical officers who tried valiantly to help the wounded and ill on the front lines of World War I. Martin provides colorful descriptions of the soldiers and officers, harrowing details of the battles, and riveting accounts of the difficulty of treating men in a war zone. A better firsthand account of medicine during World War I is not to be found.

Author Bio

Arthur Anderson Martin (1876–1916) served in France and Belgium during World War I. Wounded at Flers during the Somme battle on September 17, 1916, Martin died in the base hospital that same night. Glyn Harper (Lt. Col., retired) is a professor of war studies at Massey University in New Zealand and was the commanding officer of the Military Studies Institute from 1996 to 2000. He is the author of seventeen books, most recently Images of World War One: A Photographic Record of New Zealanders at War, 1914–1918.

Table of Contents

I. From Peace to War
II. Le Havre and Harfleur
III. From Le Havre to the Bay of Biscay
IV. From the Bay of Biscay to East of Paris
V. The Advance to the Marne
VI. What I Saw of the Battle of the Marne
VII. The Night of the Marne
VIII. From the Marne to the Aisne
IX. The Aisne and the Tragedy of the Sunken Road
X. Missy on the Aisne
XI. On the Aisne at Mont de Soissons
XII. Field Ambulances and Military Hospitals
XIII. Good-Bye to the Aisne
XIV. The La Bassée Road at Château Gorre
XV. Bethune
XVI. Some Medical Odds and Ends
XVII. We Leave Bethune
XVIII. Over the Belgian Frontier
XIX. We Leave Belgium
 

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