Medicine and Victory is the first comprehensive account of British military medicine in the Second World War since the publication of the official history in the early 1950s. Drawing on a wide range of official and non-official sources, the book examines medical work in all the main theatres of the war, from the front line to the base hospital. All aspects of medical work are covered, including the prevention of disease, and the disposal and treatment of casualties.
In 1945 Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery declared that the contribution
of the military medical services to Allied victory had been ‘beyond all
calculation’.¹ In an age of total war, with manpower at a premium, all
resources had to be used to their fullest extent and good medical services
were essential if the maximum benefit was to be derived from Britain’s forces.
But though the importance of medicine was generally acknowledged in
wartime, it has been strangely ignored ever since. With the sole exception of
the official histories,² there have been no books on medicine in any of the
British armed services.³ It is hard to think of any other aspect of military life
that has been so poorly served. But the invisibility of medicine in the historical
record belies its true significance and masks some of the Army’s greatest
achievements. Although medical provisions during the early campaigns
in Europe and the Far East were far from perfect, the medical services rose
to the difficult challenge of caring for the sick and wounded of a retreating
army. There was to be no repeat of the medical disasters that had dogged the
British Army in earlier campaigns.
