DURING the first eight months of the war the American Ambulance
continually hoped to extend its work to an Ambulance Service actually
connected with the armies in the field, but not until April, 1915, were
these hopes definitely realized. The history, however, of these first
eight months is important; its mistakes showed the way to success; its
expectations brought gifts of cars, induced volunteers to come from
America, and laid the basis upon which the present service is founded.
A gift of ten Ford ambulances, whose bodies were made out of
packing-boxes, enabled the American Ambulance, at the very outset of
the war, to take part in the transport service, and as more and more
donations were made small squads were formed in an attempt to enlarge
the work. These squads, each of five cars, were offered for service
with the armies, but owing to their inadequate size were in every case
attached by the Government to existing services well in the rear. So
there were small squads at Saint-Pol, Amiens, Paris Plage, Abbeville,
Merville, and Hesdin, attached to British or French Sections, and
they were engaged in evacuating hospitals, work which clearly could be
better done by the larger cars of Sanitary Sections already attached to
these hospitals.
In April, 1915, through the efforts of A. Piatt Andrew, who had then
become Inspector of the Field Service, the French authorities made a
place for American Ambulance Sections at the front on trial. A squad
of ten ambulances was sent to the Vosges, and this group attracted the
attention of their commanding officers, who asked that it be increased
by ten cars so as to form it into an independent Sanitary Section. As
soon as this was done, the unit took its place in conjunction with a
French Section in an important Sector on the front in Alsace.
With this initial success a new order of things began, and in the
same month a second Section of twenty cars was formed and was
stationed, again in conjunction with an existing French service, in the
much-bombarded town of Pont-à-Mousson.
In the meantime, two squads of five cars each had been working at
Dunkirk. These were now re-enforced by ten more and the whole Section
was then moved to the French front in Belgium, with the result that
at the end of the month of April, 1915, the Field Service of the
American Ambulance had really come into existence. It comprised three
Sections of twenty ambulances, a staff car, and a supply car--Section
Sanitaire Américaine N{o} 1, as it was called, stationed at Dunkirk;
Section Sanitaire Américaine N{o} 2, stationed in Lorraine; and Section
Sanitaire Américaine N{o} 3, in the Vosges.
The story of the next year is one of real achievement, in which the
three Sections emerged from the test with a record of having fulfilled
the highest expectations of proving their utility to France. Section
1, having given an excellent account of itself in the long-range
bombardments and air-raids at Dunkirk, was rewarded by being intrusted
with important work in Belgium at Coxyde, Nieuport, Poperinghe,
Elverdinghe, Crombeke, and other _postes de secours_ in that Sector of
the French front.
Section 2 had to win recognition in a region already served by a French
Sanitary Service and to which it was attached to do secondary work. The
Section not only accomplished its own work, but made it possible for
the French Section to be withdrawn, taking over the _postes de secours_
on the line, and finally becoming independently responsible for an area
renowned for its continual heavy fighting.
The record of Section 3 is slightly different. It first successfully
took over the existing service, and then, pushing on, opened up to
motor transport hitherto inaccessible mountain _postes de secours_.
With the three Sections thus established, it is interesting to note why
they have been a recognized success so shortly after their possible
usefulness was appreciated.
In the first place, an admirable type of car was selected. Our light
Ford ambulances, stationed as they were in Belgium, in Lorraine, and
in Alsace, faced three separate transportation problems. At Dunkirk
they found the mud no obstacle; at Pont-à-Mousson they outgeneralled
the _ravitaillement_ convoys; in the Vosges they replaced the mule.
They were driven, too, by college men or men of the college type, who
joined the service to be of use and who brought to the work youth and
intelligence, initiative and courage. There have been to date in the
Field Service 89 men from Harvard, 26 from Yale, 23 from Princeton, 8
from the University of Pennsylvania, 7 from Dartmouth, 6 from Columbia,
4 from the University of Michigan, 4 from the University of Virginia,
18 American Rhodes scholars from Oxford, and representatives of more
than thirty other colleges and universities. Twenty-eight men have
already been cited and awarded the _croix de guerre_.
In November, 1915, at the request of General Headquarters, a fourth
Section, made possible through the continued aid of generous friends
in America, took its place in the field. In December, 1915, Section 1
was moved to the Aisne. In January, 1916, Section 3 was transferred to
the Lorraine front, in February Section 2 was summoned to the vicinity
of Verdun at the moment of the great battle, and in March definite
arrangements for a fifth Section were completed.
So April, 1916, finds the three old Sections still on duty at the
front, the fourth already making its reputation there, and a fifth
being fitted out. Confidence has been gained; we have learned our
parts. The problem of the future is, first, to maintain efficiency,
and at the same time to be ready to put more cars and more men in the
field. Our vision is to play a larger rôle in behalf of France, and
with the continued coöperation of the donors of ambulances and the same
spirit of sacrifice on the part of the men in the field, it should be
realized.[1]
STEPHEN GALATTI
_Assistant Inspector_
[1] Since the writing of this chapter three more Sections have gone
into the field and an eighth is in process of formation. More than
fifty American colleges and universities have been represented, and
more than fifty members of the service have received the _Croix de
Guerre_ or the _Médaille Militaire_. (_November, 1916._)
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