Under the red crescent : being surgical experiences and observations as an ambulance surgeon in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 / by Robert Pinkerton.

  • Pinkerton, Robert, M.B.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Under the red crescent : being surgical experiences and observations as an ambulance surgeon in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 / by Robert Pinkerton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    In the late Russo-Turkish war, where I had the opportunity of seeing th< Is of wounded men, I am sure I did not see more than hu.i iozen suti'ering from sword, or sabre, or lance, or bayonet wounds. And all the enijuiries I could make did not enable me to come across any one whose experience differed much from my own. Why Is this ? I suj)pose it is due to the recent improvements in the firearms with which troops are ■ • lally the introtluction of breech loading:, by which :v of fire can be so very much increased. In con- >• [1. li.» of the ease and rapidity with which a soldier can l'»;id and fire his rifle now-a-days, the firing of shot takes \Ani'v even at close (juartei-s. kven in a regular charge, I bel ieve, it is i' t measure only those who fall wounded who are bayohiiu . -the attjicking party and the attacked Intth trusting more to a rajdd fire of sn)all arms than to the Iwivonet. In the case of an as.sault, for examj)le, on an earth- work, the holders of the earthwork, if moderately cool and 8tea«ly, j)our in a close and murderous fire up to the very 111 tnent the enemy ent-er the defences, and although there then I '• >v .some little hand io hand fighting, it is comparatively as the defenders of the earthwork, if beaten, either retire precipitately, in which cai<c they arc fired upon, and only those who fall wounded are bayonetted by the pursuing enemy, ,,. V retire slowly, showing a steady front and keeping up t * . Ti. i!iv prefer to answer them in lik(^ manner. 1 . n why we see so few wounded by either cuts or stabs, besides the fact that in recent wars cuts or stabs are comparatively rarely given or received. And that is, that T Ix Hovc th it majority of cases of cuts or stabs prove f ^il on the ti' .1, and are, therefore, U) be numlKired among the !n ed. If you think for a moment of the circumstances of a r] e hand to hand conflict with the bayonet, a scene where the wildest passion reigns, and a tiger-like ferocity seems to charac- terise the comWtants, where an enemy is not only overthrown, but trampled upon, you will see the reasonableness of allowing U few of those wounded under such circumstances, and with : h a weapon, survive the final thrust, and hardly one lives to be taken off the field. Then there is the fact that the bayonet is, aft^r all, a clumsy and inefficient weapon for close quarters. In faet it not unfrequently acts as a sort of trap for its unfor- f * ' • '■>yer. It may l>ecome fixed in an enemy's Vjody 1 I - r of withdrawal, in time at least to be a defence; or it may be rendered useless by having a body hurled upon it, ftvS was done with so much success by the Zulus at the recent battle of Isandula. Soldiers, at least Turkish ones, don't like