apius came out,
and, notwithstanding the drifting and blowing sand, ordered all the
British prisoners to remove their bandages so that there might be no
delay when the hospital was reached. The men obeyed as best as they
could, but in many instances the bandages refused to release themselves
from the wound. The military doctor speedily solved this problem. He
caught hold of the untied end of the bandage and roughly tore it away.
The wounded man winced but not a sound came from his lips, although the
wrench must have provoked a terrible throb of pain, and in some
instances induced the injury to resume bleeding. Finding this brutal
treatment incapable of drawing the anticipated protest he relented with
the later prisoners, submitting the refractory bandages to preliminary
damping with water to coax the dressings free.

With their bandages removed the soldiers presented a ghastly sight.
Their clothes were tattered and torn, blood-stained and mudstained,
while the raw wounds seemed to glare wickedly against the sun, air, and
dust. It was pitiable to see the men striving to protect their injuries
from the driving sand, in vain, because the sand penetrated everywhere.
Consequently the gaping wounds soon became clogged with dust, and it is
not surprising that blood-poisoning set in, gangrene supervening in many
instances. Under these conditions many injuries and wounds which would
have healed speedily under proper attention and which would have left
little or no permanent traces, developed into serious cases, some of
which resisted all treatment, finally demanding amputations. The
mutilation which ensued was terrible, and there is no doubt whatever
that many a limb was lost, condemning the wounded man to be a cripple
for life, just because he happened to be British, incurred the hostility
of the military surgeon, and was intentionally neglected. Matters were
aggravated by the military surgeon coming out of the hospital finally,
after the men had been standing uncomplainingly for several hours in the
baking heat, going a certain distance along the line, and then brutally
telling all those beyond that point that they could re-bind up their
wounds and come to see him the next morning. He had no time to attend to
them that day, he remarked.

I do not know how our wounded heroes from Mons would have got on had it
not been for Dr. Ascher, the R.A.M.C. prisoners, ourselves, and a
British military doctor who happened to be among thos