A Cadillac ambulance (1918)
World War I was one of the deadliest wars in history, with an estimated nine million combatant deaths and 13 million civilian deaths. Without the kind of modern ambulances shown here - a Cadillac ambulance donated by the employees of the Federal Shipbuilding Co. - the number of fatalities would have been considerably higher.
"During World War One, the Red Cross brought in the first widespread battlefield motor ambulances to replace horse-drawn vehicles, a change which was such a success, the horse-drawn variants were quickly phased out." --
"The equipment carried by the ambulance was changing fast at this time. Traction splints were introduced during World War I, and were found to have a positive effect on the morbidity and mortality of patients with leg fractures."
(Wikipedia)
My colorization of a 1918 photo in the US National Archives.
A Cadillac ambulance (1918)
World War I was one of the deadliest wars in history, with an estimated nine million combatant deaths and 13 million civilian deaths. Without the kind of modern ambulances shown here - a Cadillac ambulance donated by the employees of the Federal Shipbuilding Co. - the number of fatalities would have been considerably higher.
"During World War One, the Red Cross brought in the first widespread battlefield motor ambulances to replace horse-drawn vehicles, a change which was such a success, the horse-drawn variants were quickly phased out." --
"The equipment carried by the ambulance was changing fast at this time. Traction splints were introduced during World War I, and were found to have a positive effect on the morbidity and mortality of patients with leg fractures."
(Wikipedia)
My colorization of a 1918 photo in the US National Archives.