World War 1 & the Railways: Difference between revisions

As the war went on, government demands of the railways grew continuously. Overstretched and under attack, the French railways struggled to cope with the movement of injured soldiers. As a result, Britain built Continental Ambulance Trains for use in France. These trains were organised by the Royal Army Medical Corps and were used to evacuate more than 100,000 British casualties from the battlefield of Flanders in just one month in 1914.

 

The first trains used on the Western Front were simply empty French wagons with straw laid on the floor. Twelve trains of converted French stock were soon in use and this situation improved a little with the arrival of the first purpose-built ambulance trains in November 1914.

[[File:10HRA3 Ambulance Train.jpg|thumb|377x377px]]