The Western Front, 1914-18: The RAMC, FANY and the Personnel of the Chain of Evacuation
On the Western Front in the First World War, moving a wounded soldier along the chain of evacuation, from the Regimental Aid Post back to a base hospital, depended on the people staffing it, above all the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). The RAMC provided the regimental medical officers who ran Regimental Aid Posts close to the front line, the stretcher-bearers who carried wounded men there under fire, and the doctors, surgeons and orderlies who staffed dressing stations, casualty clearing stations and base hospitals. FANY, originally a volunteer women's organisation that the British Army was initially reluctant to use, mainly worked as ambulance drivers, transporting wounded men between dressing stations, casualty clearing stations and base hospitals, often over shelled or damaged roads, and also ran canteens and rest stations for exhausted troops. Together, RAMC and FANY personnel were what actually made the chain of evacuation function, since none of its stages could work without people to carry, drive, treat and organise the wounded between them.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Learn the RAMC's roles at each stage of the chain of evacuation: regimental medical officers ran the Regimental Aid Post, stretcher-bearers carried the wounded there and onward, and RAMC doctors, surgeons and orderlies staffed dressing stations, casualty clearing stations and base hospitals.
- Learn what made stretcher-bearing especially dangerous: bearers often had to cross open or shelled ground, sometimes under fire, to reach and carry a casualty, and difficult terrain (see EDX.WF2 and EDX.WF3) could make a short journey take hours.
- Learn FANY's main wartime role precisely: driving motor ambulances that moved wounded men between the stages of the chain of evacuation, often along roads damaged by shellfire and within range of enemy guns.
- Learn that FANY was a volunteer women's organisation the British Army was initially reluctant to use, and that its members also ran canteens, rest stations and other support services close to the front, beyond driving alone.
- For 'describe two features' questions on personnel, keep RAMC and FANY roles clearly separate, since blending them (e.g. describing FANY as 'the Army medical corps') will not gain full credit.
- Link personnel to outcomes: reliable, well-organised stretcher-bearing and ambulance driving directly determined how quickly a wounded man reached surgical treatment, which in turn affected survival, especially for wounds needing rapid attention such as gas gangrene (EDX.WF4).
Worked example
Describe two features of the role of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) on the Western Front.
- Choose two genuinely separate roles, e.g. treatment close to the front, and staffing further down the chain of evacuation.
- For feature 1, identify it: RAMC regimental medical officers ran the Regimental Aid Post, close behind the front line.
- Add supporting detail: here they gave immediate first aid, such as controlling bleeding and applying dressings, before a soldier was moved further back.
- For feature 2, identify it: RAMC stretcher-bearers carried wounded men from the front line and between stages of the chain of evacuation.
- Add supporting detail: this work was extremely dangerous, since bearers often had to cross open or shelled ground, sometimes taking hours over difficult terrain to reach a dressing station.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What does RAMC stand for?Show answer
Answer: The Royal Army Medical Corps.
Q2Which stage of the chain of evacuation did an RAMC regimental medical officer usually run?Show answer
Answer: The Regimental Aid Post, close behind the front line.
Q3What was the main job of an RAMC stretcher-bearer?Show answer
Answer: Carrying wounded men from the front line, and between the stages of the chain of evacuation, often under dangerous or difficult conditions.
Q4What does FANY stand for?Show answer
Answer: The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.
Q5What was FANY's main role in transporting the wounded?Show answer
Answer: Driving motor ambulances that carried wounded men between dressing stations, casualty clearing stations and base hospitals.
Q6How did the British Army initially respond to FANY, and what other support work did its members do besides driving?Show answer
Answer: The Army was initially reluctant to use them; besides ambulance driving, FANY members also ran canteens and rest stations for troops close to the front.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE History exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Describe two features of the role of FANY (the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) on the Western Front.
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How useful are Sources A and B for an enquiry into the work of RAMC stretcher-bearers on the Western Front? Source A: a letter from an RAMC stretcher-bearer to his family, 1917: 'We went out four times last night under the flares. Carrying a man over broken ground with shells still coming in is the hardest work I have known, and the most frightening.' Source B: a British Army casualty return summarising RAMC stretcher-bearer losses for a division over one month in 1917, recording the number of bearers killed, wounded and missing while carrying out their duties.
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How could you follow up Source A to find out more about how typical this stretcher-bearer's experience of danger was? Source A: a letter from an RAMC stretcher-bearer to his family, 1917: 'We went out four times last night under the flares. Carrying a man over broken ground with shells still coming in is the hardest work I have known, and the most frightening.'
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