Looking at the cemeteries of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, it is obvious that some are associated with medical facilities, St Mary's ADS near Loos is an easy example.
But my studies on Arras have put an idea in my mind, that earlier RAMC posts were applying a vigorous form of triage as casualties were passed down the evacuation chain. This all stems from looking at the positioning of medical units as outlined in various ADMS war diaries and then converting those, via Linesman, to modern map references. A few examples:
Looking south of the River Scarpe and east of Arras, Happy Valley is on the site of a post manned [in late April 1917] by elements of the 12th Division's 37th Field Ambulance.
The Rookery is adjacent to a collecting post manned by the medics of the 18th Division, again at the end of April into early May.
Tigris Lane is metres away from a vehicle loading post of the 56th Division, a 100 metres or so from the 14th Division's equivilent [from later April 1917] and a number of 14th Division RAPs and relay posts from earlier in April.
In each of the above cases within the cemetery are buried men from the respective divisions during the dates of occupancy by the medics. Obviously men may die in transit, but the frequency and numbers involved suggest something further. The re-assessment at each post may have lead to the removal of those with a low expectation of survivial, aiming to avoid clogging up the casualty evacuation chain.
But when does an idea move become a theory?
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