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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.
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MEDICINE AND VICTORY This page intentionally left blank Medicine and Victory British Military Medicine in the Second World War MARK HARRISON 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Mark Harrison 2004 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0-19-926859-2 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Typeset by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk Acknowledgements While researching and writing this book I have received valuable assistance from many people, among whom I should particularly like to thank Professor Roger Cooter and Professor David French, who read the entire manuscript as referees, and offered many valuable suggestions. Dr R. S. Morton, MBE, who served with the RAMC during the Second World War, also read an early version of the manuscript and later made important contributions to it. I would like to express my gratitude to him and to the following people for sharing their knowledge of the Second World War and the history of medicine: Mr Tarak Barkawi, Dr Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Professor Bill Bynum, Mrs Shirley Dixon, Sir Richard Doll, Dr Lesley Hall, Dr Trevor Hughes, Professor Bob Joy, Mr David Kenyon, Dr Mervyn Lewis, the late Dr Stephen MacKeith, OBE, Mr Phil Mills, Dr Tim Moreman, Professor Douglas Peers, Professor Kim Pelis, Dr Lutz Sauerteig, Mr Ben Shephard, Dr Julia Sheppard, Captain Peter Starling, Dr Steve Sturdy, Lord Walton, Dr Ian Whitehead, and Professor Michael Worboys. Staff and students at the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine and Green College, Oxford, have also provided much inspiration and support. I would also like to thank Mrs Belinda Whitty, the Unit’s secretary for, helping me with word processing and photocopying, Loreen Salleh who checked parts of the manuscript for clarity, and Mr Jeff New for his excellent copyediting. Writing this book involved countless visits to libraries and archives, during which I incurred many debts to the staff at the