L.Maufrais tells us all his successive campaigns within its allocation units: Argonne, Champagne, the fortified region of Verdun, the Somme ... The title is well chosen because doctors were operating on all areas the front. Referring to the care of wounded soldiers are expected to images of calm hospitals, tidy and especially well equipped. The experience of the author (and actor) this book is the opposite of the image. We discover appalling working conditions for a practitioner responsible for administering first aid to sometimes severely mutilated men. The first care physician must be content and comply with the same living conditions that fighters: lice, epidemics, rain, promiscuity, bombs, noise, loss of comrades ... The doctor must also satisfy makeshift shelter as a first aid station, often without water or electricity. Supply may also become a big source of problems, as the theater of operations. Under these conditions, one can easily imagine the powerlessness of these health men to exercise their knowledge. But the image of the man, and they did the best they could.
Honestly, I came out admiring the courage of these men to live and work in such conditions. The care were sometimes basic but their presence was still indispensable. The doctors were in the heart of the privacy of the soldiers. They often sought an attentive ear to talk about their anxiety or to just find a few minutes of attention in this hell, see short moments before dying, so as not to die alone. And he, the doctor, he does not complain. One feels the leg of a practitioner, that is an expression that does not let overwhelmed by emotions.
We also discover trench life from another angle, the easements if I may say so. Indeed, doctors are not combatants in itself. They are assisted in their work by a myriad of small personal in appearance but of great self-denial in practice. I refer nurses, porters, cooks, binding agents, musicians requisitioned to assist the stretcher. All these men of "shadow" that have perhaps not shine, as would be propaganda, falling with bayonets but who have distinguished themselves with stretchers, buckets of water or booze, bowls or first aid bags. This book is therefore also a focus on the awkward appearance but nevertheless essential logistics in the trenches.
The end of the book is a reflection of the author: sober and without triumphalism. L.Maufrais rather speaks of "mourning" of victory and rehashing his years on the front. In the final pages, he recounts the words of a German officer treated at his hospital. The inventory that this officer stands on the clauses of the armistice is very eloquent, monitor looks like another ...
Otherwise, successive stories campaigns are very well written. It's simple and effective. The style is very nice and very light. Also note inserting several photographs in this book, taken by L.Maufrais itself. These pictures only make reading even more immersive.
Recommend course, just for the tribute.
