This memoir is subtitled 'Reminiscences of RAMC Work With The Highland Division.' The author was OC 1/2nd Highland Field Ambulance and later ADMS (Assistant Director of Medical Services) 51st Highland Division. The holder of that appointment was the senior medical officer in a division and adviser to the GOC. This book provides a valuable insight into the workings of the medical units in a division and it begins with an explanation of what a Field Ambulance is (there were three in a division and it is not a vehicle) and how casualties were evacuated from the front line back along a chain to the UK (if necessary). It explains what the various stages in the chain were and what their role was in the scheme of things. The photos are particularly interesting since some of the dressing stations are today military cemeteries. The collecting post at Auchonvillers is still recognisable. Rorie does not dwell on the blood and gore of which he would have seen plenty but he does paint a most interesting, informative and often amusing picture of life at the front for a medical officer. Well worth reading.

The extraordinary true story of a young medical officer’s time in the trenches of the First World War from 1914-15, as seen through through the lens of his camera. Written by Fred’s grandson, Andrew Davidson, and interweaving contemporary narrative with 250 captivating, previously unknown photographs taken at the front, it is a must-have for history and photography enthusiasts alike. Fred’s War tells the extraordinary story of the 1st Cameronians, who achieved notoriety for selling the Great War’s earliest front line photographs, and Fred Davidson, their 25-year-old medical officer, one of the first doctors to win the Military Cross. His pictures are seen here for the first time, alongside those taken by his friend Lieutenant Robert Money and fellow officers. Using a unique approach blending 250 original photographs with contemporary narrative, the author, Fred’s grandson, pieces together the story behind the pictures that have passed through his family for three generations: describing the men who fought with Davidson, the conditions they served in, the battles they saw and the horrors they witnessed. From the parade ground at Glasgow’s Maryhill to the brothels of Armentieres, the book offers an unusually intimate portrait of life among a band of brothers – the same men who later proudly dubbed themselves ‘Old Contemptibles’.

An Equal Burden is the first scholarly study of the Army Medical Services in the First World War to focus on the roles and experiences of the men of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). Though they were not professional medical caregivers, they were called upon to provide urgent medical care and, as non-combatants, were forbidden from carrying weapons. Their role in the war effort was quite unique and warranting of further study. Structured both chronologically and thematically, An Equal Burden examines the work that RAMC rankers undertook and its importance to the running of the chain of medical evacuation. It additionally explores the gendered status of these men within the medical, military, and cultural hierarchies of a society engaged in total war. Through close readings of official documents, personal papers, and cultural representations, Meyer argues that the ranks of the RAMC formed a space in which non-commissioned servicemen, through their many roles, defined and redefined medical caregiving as men's work in wartime.

This volume covers the battlefields of Arras around Vimy Ridge dealing with the activities of the French and the British and the start of the Battle of Arras. Vimy Ridge gives a balanced view of the fighting by detailed descriptions of various units and individuals.

Passchendaele In Perspective explores the context and real nature of the participants’ experience, evaluates British and German High Command, the aerial and maritime dimensions of the battle, the politicians and manpower debates on the home front and it looks at the tactics employed, the weapons and equipment used, the experience of the British; German and indeed French soldiers. It looks thoroughly into the Commonwealth soldiers’ contribution and makes an unparalleled attempt to examine together in one volume ‘specialist’ facets of the battle, the weather, field survey and cartography, discipline and morale, and the cultural and social legacy of the battle, in art, literature and commemoration. Each one of its thirty chapters presents a thought-provoking angle on the subject. They add up to an unique analysis of the battle from Commonwealth, American, German, French, Belgian and United Kingdom historians. This book will undoubtedly become a valued work of reference for all those with an interest in World War One.

At the age of 43, Thomas Brookbank volunteered to join the army in September 1914 just weeks after the start of the war and when the wounded from the first encounters with the German army at Mons and Le Cateau were arriving back in England. There was nothing special about Tom Brookbank. He was a painter and a decorator by trade, but he was swept along in the surge of patriotism that drove hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women to respond to the Kitchener's call for the raising of a great volunteer army - an enterprise that most military men of the time, friend and foe alike, regarded as a ludicrous waste of time and money. This much was known by family legend, together with knowledge that he had gone to Italy in November 1917 with the 41st Division in response to the near collapse of the Italian army at Caporetto that he ended the war in Belgium with this Division. Tom Brookbank need not have volunteered at all. He was too old to be fighting a soldier and was well over the age group that Kitchener was calling for, but there was also a need for men in the support services behind the lines - the men of the Army Services Corps - and this is where Tom Brookbank and fellow men like him ended up. Early research showed that he did not start the war with the 41st Division, so, what happened to him, what did he do and where did he go? 'Searching for Pop' is the story of a grandson's search for the answers to what he did and where he went between the time he volunteered and his discharge at the end of the war. It illustrates what might be achieved from a very limited amount of initial knowledge by perseverance and the use of the records available in National Archives.