Description
Object description
British doctor served with Spanish Medical Aid Committee hospital in Granen, Spain, 9/1936-1/1937; served with Medical Service, 35th Div Spanish Republican Army attached to XIV International Bde in Spain, 1/1937-3/1937 and 7/1937-9/1937; served as director of field hospital at Granen, Spain, 10/1937-12/1937; served as doctor with Medical Service, Spanish Republican Army in Spain, 12/1937-10/1938
Content description
REEL 1 Background in South Africa, India and GB, 1911-1929: early life; attitude towards attending Repton Public School. Aspects of period as medical student in GB, 1929-1936: decision to study medicine; attending University of Cambridge, 1929-1932; medical studies at St Bartholemew's Hospital in London; effects of parent's divorce; presence of student lodgers at home; development of political attitudes.
REEL 2 Continues: recruitment to Communist Party of Great Britain, 1935; awareness of situation in Spain from Daily Worker, 1936; volunteering for Spanish Medical Aid Committee with Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit and Archibald Cochrane , impressions of Soviet Union during tour with Spanish Aid Medical Committee, 1936. Recollections of period as doctor with Spanish Medical Aid Committee hospital in Granen, Spain, 9/1936-1/1937: journey from GB to Spain with Patience Edney, 8/1936; problems with Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) in Barcelona; establishment of hospital at Granen, 9/1936; types of injuries treated.
REEL 3 Continues: description of hospital building; staff and equipment; reasons for presence of Moorish troops of Nationalist Army of Africa; amputating leg of Moorish soldier; question of treatment of Nationalist troops; Anarchist attitude to presence; rations; treating refugees; conditions in hospital. Recollections of period as doctor with 35th Division Medical Unit attached to IX International Bde on Jarama front in Spain, 1/1937-3/1937: background to decision to join International Bdes; opinion of Dr Alex Tudor Hart; induction procedure; uniform; treating wounded at Las Rozas de la Madrid; triage system of treatment.
REEL 4 Continues: popularity of International Bdes, 1/1937; military situation on Jarama front; journey to and arrival at Villarejo de Salvanés; description of setting up hospital in town hall with Dr Alex Tudor Hart; fatigue; nature of casualties; arrival of Canadian Dr Norman Bethune and blood transfusion unit; duties; method of giving blood transfusion.
REEL 5 Continues: supplies of blood during Battle of Jarama; syringe method of blood transfusion; conditions during battle; question of contact with Spanish civilians; matching blood types; blood supplies; Nationalist air attacks; plays gramophone record of song Jarama; nationalities of patients; leave period in GB, 4/1937-7/1937 including collecting medical equipment. Recollections of period as doctor with Medical Service, 35th Div, Spanish Republican Army attached to XIV International Bde in Spain, 7/1937-9/1937: return to Spain; collecting blood supplies from staff during Battle of Brunete, 7/1937; story of treatment of ambulance driver Julian Bell's lung injury.
REEL 6 Continues: death of Julian Bell; stories illustrating casualties during battle; routine and question of fatigue; blood supplies on Brunete front, 7/1937; memories of Dr René Dumont and Dr Leonard Crome; medical supplies; significance of Madrid in Republican strategy; cadaver blood transfusions; treatment of wounded Nationalist soldier.
REEL 7 Continues: Aspects of period as doctor with field hospital at Grañén, Spain, 10/1937-12/1937: joining hospital as director; character of hospital; typhoid cases; air raid precautions; behaviour of staff during air raids; quality of nursing staff and doctors; fitness tests for International Brigade recruits; treatment of deserters.
REEL 8 Continues: Recollections of period as doctor with Medical Service, Spanish Republican Army in Spain, 12/1937-10/1938: work as doctor at Teruel, 12/1937; acquisition of captured Nationalist medical equipment and blood transfusion vehicle; establishing mobile laboratory at Valls; testing local milk supplies for poisons at Valls; problems of recruiting local blood donors; question of effect of infighting amongst Republican forces on strategy of war; background to Ebro Offensive, 1938; establishment of Cave Hospital at La Bisbal de Falset; crossing River Ebro; digging in; nature of actions during Ebro Offensive; retreat back across River Ebro; transporting wounded; training for gas attacks; effect of morale on failure Ebro Offensive; hearing of repatriation of foreign volunteers from Spain.
REEL 9 Continues: Reflections on experiences in Spain, 1936-1938: reaction to leaving Spain, 10/1938; opinion of French Government; opinion of role of air power and effect of Nationalist bombing of Guernica; lack of reception on arrival in GB; attitude of public to civil war experiences; question of treatment of International Brigade volunteers on return to GB; joining Air Raid Precautions and period as doctor in Brighton, 1939-1941; how experiences in Spain aided his work with Army Blood Transfusion Service in Burma and India during Second World War; opinion of nature of International Brigade Association in GB.