Some men were so badly hurt that is was a waste of time and effort to move them further back: they would be made as comfortable as possible and left to die. Many doctors took the view that a merciful overdose was the kindest treatment for a badly-wounded man.
Second Lieutenant Treffrey was terribly mangled by a shell on the Somme. His comrade C. P. Blacker saw it happen, and rushed forward to find that:
One leg had been almost blown off with the jagged end of a femur sticking out. An artery was spurting. The other leg had been twisted back to front. His uniform had been ripped open and his abdomen gaped with bowels extruding. His face and moustache were a parched yellow. Stertorous sounds and blood were coming from his mouth.
Blacker briefly considered shooting him, but instead had him stretchered back to an aid post near Guillemont, where a young RAMC officer agreed that there was ‘Nothing to do but put him to sleep… But Treffry had a tough constitution and did not die until nightfall.’
Source:
Holmes, Richard. "Steel and Fire." Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918. London: HarperCollins, 2004. 473-74. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Blacker Have You Forgotten pp. 129-30.
Further Reading:
Carlos Paton ('C.P.') Blacker GM MC FRCP
Bataille de la Somme / Schlacht an der Somme (Battle of the Somme) / Somme Offensive
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