In 2014 I read about the experiences of British journalist Phillip Gibbs at a Belgian field hospital in the early months of WW1. I was captivated by his vivid description of a convent-turned-hospital and then his harrowing account of retrieving wounded from the flaming city of Dixmude. Gibbs' account (from his book Soul of War) left such an impression on me that my own version of the convent and blazing city made their way into my own novel, Darcy's Hope at Donwell Abbey.

Fast forward to today--
In compiling a post for my WWI blog, Blighty and Beyond, (https://gmonette.wixsite.com/blightyandbeyond) I was doing a little further research on this field hospital and turned up not one, not two, but THREE other accounts of this little group of British volunteers scrambling to help care for the Belgian wounded over a three month period. A Surgeon in Belgium is one of those other three accounts.

Soutter is a young surgeon whose story begins when he arrives in Belgium and joins the others just in time to help establish a small field hospital in Antwerp, Belgium. He gives details of their facility there, the kinds of injuries, the incessant shelling, etc. before he and the others evacuated a hair's breath ahead of the German advance.

The group then moves to a Episcopal college in Furnes (Veurne in Dutch) and he describes many of the exact same things that Gibbs described--including moving into this facility that is so ill equipped that they don't even have proper surgical instruments when they admit several hundred patients over the next several days and have three operating tables going non-stop.

In addition to also mentioning the same harrowing venture into a flaming city to retrieve wounded that Gibbs recounted, Souttar's account includes much more. He gives quite a bit of detail about EVERY topic that he covers--medicine, descriptions of people, circumstances, and places. He was obviously well educated, and his writing reflects not only talent in writing but deep philosophical thought. Examples include: Do ships have souls? (Sounds preposterous but he makes a good case) Is "rescuing" the Belgian refugee children really best for them? Is it possible that an army who blows into a country and wipes out everyone and everything might actually save lives in the end?

He praises the women nurses on more than one occasion and must have been at least somewhat supportive of women's rights as many of their ambulance drivers were very well respected women, and the entire staff of men and women shared the attic space dormitory at the top of the building.

He tells a tale about the Germans looting a chateau and adds some philosophical thoughts about the nature of man.

He illustrates some stark contrasts in the British methods and ideals versus the less advanced Belgian/French ideals (ie: using plates in orthopaedic surgery and maximising medical care as close to the Front as possible).

He gives details about the twice-weekly visits by The Queen of Belgians, a week-long visit by Madame Curie, and the famous Munro's Flying Ambulance Column attached to them.

He tells some somewhat outlandish stories that prove "fact is often stranger than fiction" and also illustrate the absurdity of war.

The book includes numerous VERY large photographs that help illustrate his account.

Overall it was very enjoyable read especially as it gave a doctor's view of many of the same topics covered by Gibbs (a journalist) and the two other authors (both women).

The four accounts taken together give a multi-faceted snap-shot of a single place and time and would make a heck of a movie or documentary because of the diverse personalities (some patients and chefs in particular), the "edge of your seat" action, and the diverse activities experienced by the each (doctor, nurse, soup-kitchen queen at the rail depot, and journalist turned stretcher-bearer and jack of all trades). Tacking on a little research of Muro's Flying Ambulance Column would turn up some incredible additional tales as well.

All four accounts are available free online:
-A Surgeon in Belgium https://archive.org/details/surgeoninbelgium00sout
-Gibbs' account of just this time period is contained in an excerpt here: http://outofbattle.blogspot.com/2013/10/with-english-hospital-at-furnes.html
-Gibbs full book, The Soul of War, is here: https://archive.org/details/soulwar00gibbgoog
-A War Nurse's Diary: Sketches from a Belgian Field Hospital (author anonymous) https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-01110260R-bk
-My War Experiences in Two Continents by Sarah Macnaughtan https://archive.org/details/wartwocontinents00macnuoft

My blog will feature some of my favourite parts of Gibbs' account (April 2017), and I will try to write reviews of A War Nurse's Diary and My Experience in Two Continents on Goodreads.

If you would like my typed notes (complete with topic heading) on any of these books, email me through my website, GingerMonette.com.