DOCTORS UNDER FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16459, 8 February 1917, Page 8

DOCTORS UNDER FIRE.

*» ATTENDING TH,E WOUNDED. DEVOTION SAVES MANY LIVES. New Zealand War Correspondent. FRANCE, Dec. 1. The work of the New Zealand doctors from beginning to end of tie Sonime offensive was magnificent. They do not say much about it themselves, but those who saw something of it can estimate it at its true value, and the estimate is a very high one. At all the advanced dressing stations and aid posts they were under shell fire, but they stuck to their work day and night with a heroism worthy of the best traditions of British doctors under fire. Three out of our small band lost their lives on the Somme. The Regimental Aid Post at one placo was simply a hole under the parapet. The shells burst about it. The Battalion Headquarters next door were blown in. At great personal risk, the doctor went I over the parapet and dressed the wounds of a most valuable non-commissioned officer, of whom it was reported that immediate attention might save his life, i He worked all night, and the following night, although fired at, went to the assistance of another unit. The same man, 'at a later stage of the - fighting, when no safe place could be found for a regimental aid post, worked practically in the'open under heavy shell fire. The battalion had suffered considerably. At night he filled his pockets with dressings, and, in spite of artillery and machine-gun fire, went to and fro on the field of battle, dressing the wounds of men lying out, and thus saved many lives. He repeated the performance on the following night, finding several men whom he had missed on the previous night. The men simply worshipped that man. Dr. Bogle, whose death has been reported, did fine work. At Flers he worked ceaselessly in the open, under continual shell fire, for 36 hours, without rest or meals, till killed by a shell five - minutes before the battalion moved out. By his extraordinary devotion to duty he saved many lives. Sufficient has been mentioned to show that the work of the N.Z.M.C. was all that could have been desired,";, and perhaps a little more. The administration was - excellent/ and drew forth /from the corps and the army under which the New Zealanders served an unstinted appreciation, the terms of which have already been mentioned^ , ,! .' .''•:'■- -1 . ! * v .' >~&,• ,1-,,■,«&■! »;■!■.- '^ii,i.„ * ; ■'■:-.■■ "'' ■ -'■ M . -— ■* r-— —> - —. ;