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Many factors have made it impossible for the National
Red Cross to follow any modern system of medical military
organisation so that the difficulty of organising the Red Cross
services in the throes of war and under the special conditions
of China has been particularly great. A few of the more important
factors may be mentioned: poor communications and lack of
transport vehicles; the great length and open neture of the
fighting fronts; the constant raiding of the lines of communications
by enemy air-craft; the rapidity with which nowerful mechanized
columns can move especially against non-mechanized troops; the
maltreatment of wounded soldiers and hospital staf” by the enemy;
and the lack of adequate housing or tents for hospitals within a
reasonable distance from the fighting line. It has therefore been
the policy of the Army Medical Administration to evacuate all
wounded far to the rear where reasonable tranquility may be
obtained for hospitalization and care of the wounded. The service
of the Red Cross is therefore governed by these conditions.
To assist the Army Medical Service in the region between
the front and the base hospital area, Ambulance Unite composed
chiefly of dressers in charge of a doctor are organized to staff
the receiving stations and the hospital trains and boats so as to
take continuous care of the wounded during the journey, often long,
from the front to the rear.
The rôle of the Red Cross units in the rear of the line of
communications is to supplement the medical staff of the army field
and base hospitals. This is done by attaching Curative (Operating)
and Nursing nits to certain hospitals for the purpose of using
these particular hospitels as surgical clearing houses for the
treatment of the severely wounded in the various hospitals nearby.
It must be remembered that the Red Cross doctors and nurses come
from among the best hospitals in the country, and through their
attachment to the army hospitals bring the best available technical
help