Voluntary Aid Rendered To The Sick And Wounded At Home And Abroad And To British Prisoners Of War 1914-1919 [Paperback]

The full title of this mammoth work, that was first published in 1921 in a very limited edition is REPORTS BY THE JOINT WAR COMMITTEE AND THE JOINT WAR FINANCE COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY AND THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM IN ENGLAND ON VOLUNTARY AID RENDERED TO THE SICK AND WOUNDED AT HOME AND ABROAD AND TO BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR 1914-1919 It is the most comprehensive, single-volume record of the Red Cross and its commitment in the First World War.Members of the British Red Cross and the Order of St John were organised into Voluntary Aid Detachments (the term VAD later came to be used for an individual member as well as a detachment). All members were trained in first aid and others trained in nursing, cookery and hygiene and sanitation. Throughout the war VADs worked in hospitals, convalescent homes, rest stations, packing centres, medical supply depots and work parties. The Joint War Committee organised the volunteers alongside technical and professional staff. The Committee also supplied the machinery and mechanisms to provide these services in Britain and in the conflict areas of Europe, the Middle East, Russia and East Africa.The Joint War Committee was the first to supply motorised ambulances to the battlefields. The first convoy arrived in France in September 1914 and proved much more effective in the war terrain than the horse-drawn ambulances used in previous conflicts.Reports by the Joint War Committee and the Joint War Finance Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England on Voluntary Aid rendered to the Sick and Wounded at Home and Abroad and to British Prisoners of War, 1914-1919. Like its title this really is a huge book on our beloved Red Cross and St. John's in the war. Apart from how to apply a triangular bandage, this book tells you just about everything you want to know; or perhaps didn't even want to know, about those organisations during the First World War.Its 823 pages arel-