Anzac Girls

 

Hostilities began on 28 July 1914 for what history records as World War One when nobody at the time foresaw the horrors that would eventuate. New technologies were found to more efficiently kill or maim people and on the battle front it was often thought that being killed outright was better than the maiming. Medical technologies had not yet caught up with the maiming and there was shock at the amount of damage that could be done to the human body and mind.

Anzac Girls is a television adaptation of the experiences of Australian and New Zealand nurses Olive Haynes, Grace Wilson, Alice Ross-King, Elsie Cook and Hilda Steele. Presumably there were modifications to the true stories for the sake of the television audience, but after watching the series, it is not difficult to imagine what conditions would have been like the young women and women like them.

The young nurses had to make their way in a military organisation that was not properly organised or equipped (at least at the start). They were not credited with having the fortitude or skills to carry out their duties and at the beginning their quarters were far below the standard of the times.

Many of us have an impression of WWI which it is in black and white. The Tower of London poppies go some way to changing that image. To put the numbers in some sort of context 888 266 soldiers [had they been alive] equates to a column four abreast, at one metre spacing, reaching from London to Sheffield!

Anzac Girls also brings the realty of the conflict into colour, releasing empathy for those who fought, saved, sacrificed or lost.

We must also spare a though for enemy losses too.

Despite the horrors of any armed conflict there is huge fascination with weaponry and all sorts of justification is made to own a weapon – or several. Stupid or not, laws condone ownership of them. The same fascination spills over to electronic shooting games.

Standard issue for the Allies was the Lee Enfield .303 fitted with a bayonet, and machine guns [Browning and Lewis] using the same calibre ammunition, aimed at the enemy.  The Allies faced similar calibre rifle fire and slightly larger calibre machine gun fire. The accuracy of rifle fire is questionable when running or defending because of the moving shooter or target. More accurate are the machine guns and snipers.

A solid-nosed bullet is bad enough, as it can pass through flesh without horrific damage unless bone or organ are hit, then damage is far worse. Shrapnel shells loaded with those round lead pellets/balls rip through flesh and bone, soft lead changing shape, mushrooming, to cause horrific injuries! If the wound is not bad enough, complications of lead poisoning and gangrene add to the misery.

The dead were buried and often reburied – honour to those who undertook that gruesome, dangerous task – while the wounded were patched and moved on to hospitals – honour also to the patchers and movers!

The nurses and doctors were charged with repairing the wounded so they could return to the fighting and if pressure was on, choosing who could be repaired and who could be left [maybe to die] until a less pressured time – if it eventuated.

Coping too with the newer phenomenon of mental issues where the gun-shy or shell-shocked were sent back to fight while fighting their own personal battles.

During rest times the nurses wrote to the loved ones of the wounded who had not survived.

No doubt the nurses had their favourite patients, because connection occurs without rhyme nor reason - such losses were sorely felt.

Who knows what goes through the heads of warmongers, weapons manufacturers, sabre rattlers or those who commit people to fight, and sure enough very often there is a need to respond to aggression.

Bloodlust somehow pervades humanity, for instance crowds gathered to watch some poor heretic or supposed traitor hung, then to be drawn and quartered. Not dead from the hanging, genitals ripped out, the guts exposed and the beating heart finally ripped out. And the crowd cheered! Some 40 000 people were guillotined to cheers or abuse during the French Revolution yet Bastille Day is a celebration for the French people rather than a dark day of shame.

The offspring of wounded World War One survivors owe their existence to doctors and nurses just like those portrayed on Anzac Girls. Happily, because of their experience and personal empowerment, the Anzac Girls each went on to make important contributions to post war society.

The same compassion and dedication can be seen today in those treating Ebola sufferers, of response teams for refugees, malnutrition and armed conflict – even today some are no better equipped than the intrepid Anzac Girls of 1914.