CHAPTER VIIITHE UNIT EXPANDS
Thenumber of patients coming into a war hospital must inevitably fluctuate, and ‘Claridge’s’ had its easy as well as its heavy periods. During September and the first half of October the wards were occupied principally by British wounded; but as the weeks went on, the War Office completed its arrangements, and hospital trains were sent down to transport the men to England, and fewer came into Paris. Meanwhile, affiliation with a French military hospital had taken place, and a greater number of French sick and wounded were sent in, as well as some Belgians. November brought a lull, and the wards became comparatively empty. An R.A.M.C. general called and asked that a hundred and fifty beds might be made ready, as it was intended to send large numbers of light cases to Paris, but the expected trains did not arrive till December, when once more every available bed was filled by the British.
Investigation revealed that the reduction of French admissions was caused by difficultieswhich had arisen between the Red Cross offices in the rue de Thann and the Governor of Paris. The Red Crossdirecteur, M. le Dr. M——, was of a choleric disposition; and when he insulted the military authorities, they retaliated by cutting all the rue de Thann hospitals off the station list. Hospitals which were not on this list did not receive any wounded, even though they sent their ambulances with apermissigned by M. le Dr. M——. New regulations, too, were constantly made; so that the papers which had been in order on Monday might be obsolete on Wednesday. After one of these inimical passages it was decreed that ambulances must carry apermissionfrom theService de Santéin addition to the Red Cross mandate. The rue de Thann was not successful in obtaining the necessary document from headquarters, and consequently M. Falcouz suggested that Dr. Flora Murray should go in person to see the Governor and ask for an authority from him.
It transpired that appointments were not made with M. le Général F——. The usual procedure was to be on the steps of hiscabinetat eight o’clock in the morning. He held aRéunionat seven o’clock every morning; and those who wished for interviews waited to catch him when theRéuniondispersed.
M. le Général was very handsome: six foot in height, he was broad in proportion and his red and blue uniform was highly becoming. As he stood on the steps shaking hands with his colleagues, he was a debonair and pleasant figure. There was power in his face and a sense of humour, but there was cunning too. His extreme courtesy did not completely disguise his insincerity. He was frankly curious about the women doctors, but behind his polite interest was scepticism. Dr. Murray presented a letter of introduction from a British official, and requested M. le Général to furnish her with the necessary authority for the stations and an order for coal and coke. Experience had shown that he was always ready to promise everything that he was asked, but that his promises were seldom fulfilled. With great affability he said that he would send the authorisation and that he would refer the question of coal to ‘l’intendance militaire.’ It was to meet this contingency that Orderly Hodgson had accompanied the doctor. She said she would wait and take both papers with her.
‘It will take an hour to prepare,’ said the secretary.
‘I will wait an hour,’ she said amiably.
‘It may perhaps be two hours,’ he warned her.
‘I will wait two hours,’ she said, still more amiably.
‘Or perhaps tillmidi,’ he insisted.
‘It is well. I will wait tillmidi,’ she rejoined.
He shrugged his shoulders and invited her to follow him to his office. Before letting Dr. Murray go, M. le Général entered into his reasons for requiring thirty thousand beds in Paris, and ended with:
‘Je tiens absolument à retenir votre installation.’
Probably he did not care at all, but he feared that if he let the hospital leave Paris the British would absorb it. The interview was useful. The necessary document was granted; and for a time obstruction ceased.
The French soldiers who were admitted to the hospital were in a much worse condition than the British. To begin with, they were of a more intellectual and imaginative temperament, and they suffered in mind as well as in body. They had borne great hardships, for their clothing and equipment, and especially their commissariat, fell far below the British standard.
One of those admitted was Pte. Darcy of theLégion étrangère. He was one of several hundred young Englishmen resident in Paris who, on theoutbreak of war, had precipitately joined the French Army. When wounded, he insisted on being put out of the train near Paris, that he might go to an English hospital. As he recovered, he told how he had joined in a hurry because he feared that he would miss all the fighting if he went home and went through his training. He described his experiences with the French Army: the severe training of recruits, the inadequate accommodation, the lack of bedding, clothing, food, and the indifferent medical attention. In the trenches his regiment remained unrelieved for long periods, and for weeks his food was bread and a sardine. Both he and his brother had married French women and lived in Paris. His brother had been shell-shocked and was deaf and dumb, and being unable to protest, had been removed to a French hospital in the provinces. With a good deal of trouble his transfer to Claridge’s was effected; and the two brothers had beds side by side and were very happy in their reunion.
Other men in the ward became much interested in the cure of ‘Darcy’s brother,’ as every one called him, and combined to stand behind him and yell all together, to try and make him hear. The din was terrible, but it gave the whole wardgreat pleasure; and when at last, one evening, Darcy’s brother heard and turned round and smiled at them, they cheered vociferously. Soon after this he recovered his speech also; and, in his delight, it seemed to the staff as though from that moment he never ceased talking.
They came from all over France, these men—from north and south, from the Pyrénées and the Vosges: Zouaves, Moroccans, Bretons, Alsatians—with their various types and uniforms, and, what was more embarrassing, with their variouspatois. The nurses learnt their tastes in food and in wine; they studied the difference in their temperaments; prepared tisanes and special dishes, and made them all happy and at home. A simple Poilu could not sleep at night for wonder and delight at being in a marble hall. His melancholy neighbour answered every inquiry about his arm with ‘Ça pique; ça pique toujours.’ Sergeant Jacquot had innumerable smart lady friends. And ‘le Caporal’ had quaint old parents from the Midi, who travelled all night to come and see him and bring him a cheese and raisin wine.
The French soldier associated with the British very readily, joining in his games and songs as though the difference of language was no impediment to understanding. He was the most gratefuland appreciative of patients—glad to be nursed, massaged and well treated. Only, now and then, he would say:
‘Our hospitals are not like that.’
This was the only criticism of his country’s institutions that ever escaped him; for his patience under hardship was wonderful. His thick red trousers were always too large for him; his heavy long blue coat was most cumbersome, and his boots left much to be desired. His under-clothing was of cotton; and he might or might not have socks with which to face the damp and cold in the trenches. But he was a valiant and an intrepid fighter, and his intense patriotism made him the most uncomplaining and enduring of men.
Some of those who found refuge at Claridge’s had been shelled out of three hospitals and had lain on straw in a cellar for six weeks. Others had homes in the occupied area and did not know what had become of their wives and families. Most of them had closed their shops and left their business, and their future was uncertain. But, one and all, they were certain of victory, and confidently referred to the time when the German should be beaten.
The hardships of the winter and the wet climatetold very heavily upon the Algerians, who reached hospital in a miserable condition. They were the victims of severe frostbite, and in one case, at any rate, both feet had to be amputated. This man remained in the hospital for a considerable time. Mrs. Kemp, who visited his ward, was very kind in bringing fruit to him and his compatriots, for they loved to consume large quantities of it. One day she asked him what he would like for a present, and he said that his desire was to possess a valise. He received it, when she brought it, with wide smiles. It was covered with grey cloth, and had shiny black leather straps and handles and was considered very attractive. At the earliest opportunity he summoned his doctor to his bedside, and showing her the valise, asked for his feet. Alas! they had not been preserved, and he was bitterly disappointed.
* * * * *
When reports reached Paris of the heavy fighting in the north and of the great rush of wounded to Boulogne, the English hospitals in that city made up a party of surgeons and nurses and sent them to give any additional aid which might be required. Three doctors from ‘Claridge’s’ were of the party. When they reached Boulogne they found the hospitals and stations seriouslyovercrowded, and approximately three thousand casualties were coming in daily. The authorities, however, refused all outside help. They said that they had ample staff and needed no volunteers; and it was even supposed that orders were given to refuse civilians access to the hospitals.
The women doctors made friends with the matron of one of the hospitals, who told them that she had orders not to take any doctors round; but as they were women and in uniform, they would probably pass as nurses, and therefore she would show them some of the wards. They found the accommodation had been stretched to the uttermost. Instead of four hundred patients there were eight hundred. Rows of stretchers filled the corridors, and the orderlies were stepping over the men in their efforts to pass water or food among them. The dressings could not be overtaken. The men were unwashed, and in many cases their dressings had not been changed for days, owing to want of staff. They lay in Boulogne for two or three days, and were then transferred to England. Everywhere there was overcrowding, and it was evident that more hospitals were needed.
The next day the officer in charge of one of the hospitals, finding himself hopelessly short-handed, asked for the temporary assistance of two womensurgeons. Dr. Rosalie Jobson and Dr. Marjorie Blandy were accordingly lent to him by the Corps. They became attached to his staff and remained serving under the R.A.M.C. in this post for six months. During this time the Corps maintained them, the Army accepting their services gratis.
Acting on instructions from Paris, Dr. Gazdar called at the headquarters of the Army Medical Service, and found that the Women’s Hospital Corps was well known. She stated that the Corps proposed to establish another hospital in Boulogne, and asked whether it would be welcome to the authorities.
In reply, she was told:
‘If you had a place here, we should certainly use you. We know all about your work in Paris.’
She then returned to Paris, where preparations were already being made for the second hospital. The French Red Cross was willing that the Unit should divide and extend its sphere of work, so long as it bore the expense itself. And M. Falcouz offered them all assistance in obtaining transport for the heavy luggage and permission to move the ambulances, which Mlle Block and Miss Grey were anxious should go with them.
On the 1st of November Dr. Garrett Andersonand Dr. Flora Murray left for Boulogne, to find a house for the new hospital and get it ready for occupation.
The company in the very crowded railway carriage in which they travelled included a lady and gentleman who had fled from Lille and who were going to Calais. Madame had what she called ‘un petit panier’ on her knee, and very politely hoped it would not inconvenience her fellow-passengers. Thepaniermeasured twenty-eight by thirty-six inches and contained two dainty little dogs. These howled whenever Madame left the compartment, and she left it frequently, for she was stout and the carriage was airless. When they howled, Monsieur beat on the lid of thepanierand called thembêtesandinfâmes.
In one corner a French woman who had been nursing in a hospital for the wounded recounted her experiences. She related how a German had lain in the hospital, with both hands helpless; and how the nurses had always attended to him last; how she herself, when she did anything for him, always said:
‘I do not do this for my own pleasure, but because God has so commanded me.’
And the carriage nodded its head in approval. Further, she described how, being set to feed himwith rice and milk, she made this remark with each mouthful; till, goaded beyond bearing, the man spat the food out in her face. And the carriage exclaimed with horror at the brute. Then all the nurses gathered round to tell him what they thought of him, and unanimously declared they would refuse ever to feed him again. Theinfirmière majeure, being informed, said that she would feed him, and with the spoon and basin she approached the bed. The poor man, however, let himself go and ejected the rice and milk thus bestowed upon him in the direction of the lady herself. The carriage lifted its hands in horror, and agreed, as the raconteur continued, that after that there was nothing more to be done, and theMédecin-en-Chefhad to remove the wounded German.
With such tales the long journey was beguiled.