'Military Lessons of the Arab Rebellion in Palestine 1936' [‎119r] (244/294)

APPENDIX V T
44816-1
181
I^DICAL SERYTHTPS IN PALE.STT^
1936
the only°medical'uni t s V in pLeft^e\!rf ^hf^T 6 ^ H ?th Se f ember ^
accommodation for 230 the 7th w r.* A,F * ^f neral Hos Pi"tal v/ith
the 12 th September) L (v ^ 0h arriTCd ° n
Jerusalem and Haifa, The latter wp^? + ^ r -cep tJ ion stations at
of 35 Company, E.A.M.C., which formed parf of the “
tin- tn 0 proDortion 1 to C th° arS - l l d ’**" sup P lied frora EOTt^roPtiA^o *
1:1111 in P ro P or tion to the reinforcements despatched,
nf t ?®. Wide ^Persian of the troops and the low proportion
of boai. casualties a mobile medical unit was never found necessary
an a 3U_ f t :i f n ° y , of raotor ambulances was all that vjas required,' One
car was attached to each unit and in addition pools of ambulanc^ were
maintained at Jerusalem and Haifa,
Casualties m action were evacuated direct to the R.A.F. General
hospital or to the nearest Government or Voluntary Hospital after
receiving first aid. No difficulties arose in this respect. The
employment ol vast numbers of small detachments made it impossible to
furnish medical personnel with each, and the difficulty was met by the
provision of first aid outfits and the instruction in first aid by unit
medical officers of as many men as possible. This situation brought out
very clearly the necessity for a wider knowledge of first aid among
officers and men of all units in operations of this kind. The arrival
of the 4th Field Ambulance enabled the reception station at Haifa to be
expanded to a Military Hospital of 300 beds while that at Jerusalem had
meanwhile been enlarged to a total of 60.
The Base Hospital of the Force was the 3rd General Hospital at
Alexandria and the method of evacuation was by rail ambulance coaches or
by the Royal Naval Hospital Ship " Maine 1 1 , which had been placed at the
disposal of the G.O.C. by the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean. Use was
also made of returning troopships. It had at first been considered
v/hether the Hospital Ship " Main e" should be used as a Base Hospital at
Haifa, but it was eventually decided to employ her as a carrier to save
patients a long and trying (and sometimes dangerous) railway journey.
There were also practical drawbacks in using the ship as a base hospital
in that she could only take about 100 patients in cots, the remainder
being in three-tier berths which were unsuitable for nursing when the
ship was in port.
The arrival of the medical units of the Palestine Emergency Force
enabled the following organizations to be established:-
Mi lit any Hospital, Jerusalem (4th Fd Amb) - ^00 beds.
Military Hospital, Haifa (3 C.G. S. ) 240 beds.
Main Dressing Station, Nazareth (2/3rdCav. Fd. Amb.) (Light cases).
These, with the R.A.F. General Hospital at Sarafand, provided a total
hospital accommodation of 670 beds which proved ample foi the Force, which
by then numbered some 22,000 and filled approximately two-thirds of the
available beds. The 2/3rd Cavalry Field Ambulance, while manning the
Main Dressing Station at Nazareth, was also available in reserve as a
mobile unit for use in Trans-Jordan or elsewhere if the necessity arose.
The final medical lay-out in October is shown in Map No. 1.
Separate arrangements were made for local trea men y civilian