AN AMERICAN DOCTOR IN THE RUSSIAN ARMY
Dated:
WARSAW, POLAND,
_May 3, 1915_.
It is a far cry from the city of Seattle in the State of Washington,
U.S.A., to the little village of Sejny in the Polish government of
Suwalki, but this is the jump that one must make to follow the career
of Dr. Eugene Hurd, the only American surgeon attached to the Russian
Red Cross working in the field in this war. Inasmuch as the story of
the Doctor is a good one in itself, and as from him one learns not a
little about the Field Hospital service of the Russians, it seems quite
worth while to devote a chapter to this very interesting and useful
individual.
Up to August last Dr. Hurd was a practising surgeon in Seattle, a
member of the State Legislature and spoken of as coming Mayor of the
town. When he strolled casually into my room at Warsaw in the uniform
of a Russian Colonel, who spoke not a word of any language except
English, I was naturally somewhat surprised. “How on earth,” I asked
him, “do you happen to be in the Russian Army?” Unbuckling his sword
and sprawling his six feet three of brawn and sinew in an armchair he
began his story.
“Well, it was this way. I’ve never had much time to follow politics in
Europe, as my time’s been pretty much occupied cutting off legs and
arms and such, out on the Pacific Coast. But my people have always
been regular Americans, and some of us have been in every war the
U.S.A. ever pulled off. My great-grandfather fought in the revolution;
my grandfather in the Mexican war, and my father in the Civil and
Spanish-American wars. Well, I was raised in an army post, and ever
since I was a kid I’ve heard my father talk about how Russia stuck
with us during the Civil war. When things looked blue and bad for the
North she sent her old fleet over, and let it set right there in New
York Harbour until required, if needed. During the war in Manchuria we
were all for Russia on just this account, and when she got licked Dad
and I both felt bad. All right. Well one day out in Seattle I read in
the paper that Germany had declared war on Russia. I remembered that
business, back in the ‘60’s,’ and what the Russians did for us, and I
just said to myself, ‘Well, I’m for Russia anyhow,’ and I sat down that
very day and wrote to the head of the medical department at Petrograd,
and just told them straight that we had always been for Russia ever
since that business of her fleet, and that if I could serve her in this
war I’d come over even if I had to throw up my own practice, which by
the way is a pretty good one.
“Well, a couple of months went by and I had forgotten all about it
when one day the Russian Consul blew into my office with a cable from
Petrograd, a bunch of money in one hand and a ticket over the Siberian
in the other. So I just locked up my office and came right over. In
Petrograd they ran me around in an auto. for two days, and then shipped
me down to Grodno, where I got a Colonel’s uniform and went right out
to the ‘Front’ in charge of a Field Hospital, where I’ve been now for
three solid months, and you’re the first American I’ve seen and you
certainly look good to me,” and the Doctor smiled genially.
I have got more information about the Russian wounded from Hurd than
any man I have met since I came to Russia, and though he does not speak
the language he sees everything. He was at once placed in charge of an
outfit of sixty-one men and five wagons which formed a Field Hospital.
“I have my bunch well organized,” the doctor said. “You see I handled
it this way. I divided all my outfit, medicine chest, instruments,
etc., so that they went into the five wagons. Each wagon was painted a
certain colour and every box that went into that wagon had a band of
the same colour around it and a number. I had a man for each box and
each knew exactly what to do. I can halt on the march and my men are so
well trained now that I can commence operating in ten minutes after we
make a stop. I can quit work and be packed up and on the march again in
twenty. I like these fellows over here fine, and when I once get them
properly broken in, they work splendidly.” [The Field Hospital to which
he was attached was up in the rear of the Russian lines all during the
recent fighting in East Prussia.] “I never worked so hard in my life,”
he continued. “One day I had 375 men come to my table between sunset
and morning and I was working steadily until the next night, making
twenty-three hours without intermission. It was a tough job because
every little while we had to pull up stakes and move off to the rear
with our wounded. That made it hard for us and difficult to do real
good work.”
[Illustration: The Emperor with his Staff.]
[Illustration: Russian nurses attend to the feeding of the soldiers.]
The work and experience with the Russian wounded have given this
American doctor a remarkable insight into the character of the
peasant soldier. “These moujik chaps,” he assured me, “never make a
complaint. I never saw anything like it. Sometimes they groan a little
when you’re digging for a bullet, but once off the table and in the
straw (we are without beds as we move too fast for that) a whole
barnful will be as quiet as though the place was empty; one German,
on the other hand, will holler his head off and keep the whole place
awake. The Russians never complain, and everything you do for them they
appreciate remarkably. I do a lot of doctoring for the villagers, and
every day there’s a line a block long waiting to get some ‘American’
dope, and they’re so grateful it makes you feel ashamed. Everybody
wants to kiss your hands. I tried putting my hands behind me, but those
that were behind were just as bad as those in front. Now I’ve given up
and just let them kiss.”
The vitality of the Russian soldier is amazing according to the
evidence of this observer. With the exception of wounds in the heart,
spine or big arteries there is nothing that must certainly prove fatal.
Many head wounds that seem incredibly dangerous recover. “I had one
case,” he told me, “which I never would have believed. The soldier
walked into my hospital with a bullet through his head. It had come
out just above his left ear and I had to dissect away part of the brain
that was lying on the ear, Well, that fellow talked all through the
dressing and walked out of the hospital. I sent him to the rear and I
have no doubt that he recovered absolutely.”
In the hundreds of cases operated on not a single death occurred on
the operating table and not one lung wound proved fatal. Many of the
abdominal wounds of the worst type make ultimate recoveries, and it
was the opinion of the surgeon that not above five to ten per cent. of
the patients who reached the first dressing stations died later from
the effects of their wounds. That the war was very popular among the
common soldiers was the conclusion that my friend had reached. “The
old men with families don’t care much for it,” he added, “but that is
because they are always worrying about their families at home, but the
young fellows are keen for it, anxious to get to the ‘Front’ when they
first come out, and eager to get back to it even after they have been
wounded. Some of them as a matter of fact go back several times after
being in the hospital.”
In discussing the comparative merits of the Germans and Russians, it
was his opinion that though the Germans were better rifle shots, they
could not compare with the Russians when it came to the bayonet. “When
these moujiks,” said the doctor, “climb out of their trenches and begin
to sing their national songs, they just go crazy and they aren’t scared
of anything; and believe me, when the Germans see them coming across
the fields bellowing these songs of theirs, they just don’t wait one
minute, but dig right out across the landscape as fast as they can
tear. I don’t think there’s a soldier in the world that has anything
on the Russian private for bravery. They are a stubborn lot too, and
will sit in trenches in all weathers and be just as cheerful under one
condition as another. One big advantage over here, as I regard it, is
the good relations between the soldiers and the officers.”
One extremely significant statement as to the German losses in the East
Prussian movement was made by this American surgeon. The church and
convent where his hospital is located were previously used for the same
purposes by the Germans. According to the statement of the priest who
was there during their occupation, 10,500 German wounded were handled
in that one village in a period of six weeks and one day. From this
number of wounded in one village may be estimated what the loss to the
enemy must have been during the entire campaign on the East Prussian
Front.
GENERAL RUSSKY’S SUCCESSOR