H S Souttar

Surgeon in Belgium H S Souttar

The author of this book, who before the war was an assistant surgeon at West London Hospital, was one of the surgeons in charge of the British Field Hospital for Belgium, which began its work in Antwerp in September 1914 with 150 beds and a staff of eight doctors and twenty nurses. On October 9th, in view of the German occupation, the hospital had to leave the city and successfully did so with over 100 patients being removed in buses. It started up again in Furnes, near La Panne, as the official Field Hospital of the Belgian Army. The location was only a few miles behind the firing line, which made the work quite exciting from the military point of view, and its independence of the British medical organisation brough up many novel problems of supply and maintenance. The author was able to visit other places such as Termonde, Malines, Purvies and Ypres and his descriptions of them so early in the war, supported by photographs, reflect the deep impressions they made on him.