Violetta Thurstan

Field Hospital and Flying Column: With the Red Cross on the Western & Eastern Fronts During the First World War Violetta Thurstan

The women of the Red Cross at war

The author of this book, Violetta Thurston was a trained Red Cross volunteer senior administrator and nurse sent to Belgium by the organisation in the early days of the First World War in charge of a party of British nurses expecting to assist wounded British soldiers. Instead, they arrived to find the country on the brink of collapse and the roads around the capital clogged with refugees fleeing the combat zone. They had just arrived in Brussels when the German Army marched in, ostensibly passing through, but in reality establishing its presence and becoming their first patients. Soon, and to her relief, Violetta moved to a hospital at Charleroi nursing the wounded irrespective of nationality. After a return to Brussels she was sent to Copenhagen in Denmark and then to the eastern front and the Red Cross operations in Warsaw, Poland before moving on towards Lodz-which was at that time under bombardment with the so called Red Cross 'Flying Column.' Working among Russian troops on the front lines Violetta and her team from the 'flying Column' moved into the trenches at Radzivlow where they undertook their difficult and humane work in close proximity to the German line and under constant firing. This book gives readers an insight into the work of the members of the Red Cross during the Great War and illustrates the work that brave women undertook in most trying and dangerous conditions.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.