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The War Effort of New Zealand

On the Western Front

On the Western Front.

With the organisation of the New Zealand infantry into a division in February, 1916, the veterinary personnel took a different formation from the one originally planned. The veterinary provision for a division comprises a mobile section page 160with veterinary sergeants to each battery of artillery, and each infantry brigade, and certain other horsed units. These sergeants, together with the mobile section and veterinary officers to the number of six, were under the command of Lieut-Col. A. R. Young for as long as he could be spared from New Zealand, and then the command passed to Lieut-Col. H. A. Reid, A.D.V.S. This officer remained in control until the troops were finally repatriated.

The mobile section acted as a collecting station for all sick and wounded horses that could not be treated satisfactorily in the unit lines. These horses were then taken to a veterinary casualty clearing station on a line of communication where they were classified. Serious cases of sickness or injury, especially those with a prospect of protracted recovery, were removed to a base hospital. There were special veterinary hospitals for certain cases, more particularly for cases of skin disease.

The veterinary personnel attached to the unit in the field had the care and treatment of all sick and injured horses. As this personnel was not large enough to meet all needs, suitable assistants were drawn from the ranks, wherever possible, to help in first aid and in the routine veterinary treatment of sick or injured horses and mules. The veterinary officer also concerned himself with the inspection of forage, the sanitation of stables, and horse lines—particularly the sick lines—and it was his duty to report any irregularities to the officer commanding the unit.

Early in the war the evacuation of horses from the mobile veterinary section in the northern districts of France was largely done by barges along canals and rivers. This method was comfortable for the horses, and generally proved very successful. When barges were not available, trains had to be used. Lieut.-Col. Reid mentions as a noteworthy fact that, despite the enormous demands on the railway systems, there was very little undue delay in the carriage of sick horses to the base. Animals which were able to march went by road if the collecting station was not too far away.

A New Zealand veterinary sub-section hospital, with Major P. M. Edgar in command, was established at Calais, attached page 161to No. 4 General Veterinary Hospital. Major Edgar's hospital achieved a solid reputation for efficiency and up-to-dateness.

The most trying time on the Western front for horses was during winter. In northern France the winter of 1916 was said by inhabitants to be the worst for forty years. The cold was intense, but it did not affect the horses nearly as much as the perpetual wetness and mud. This trouble, with an occasional shortage of food and material for shelter, due to the great difficulties of railway transport at the front, made the horses lose condition and exposed them to infection by disease.

Mange was extremely difficult to treat. In most of the divisional areas sulphur baths, supplied with hot water, were built for the regular dipping of horses. This dipping was done, however, more as a preventative of mange than as a cure, for it was found that, as a matter of routine, it was better to send all actual cases of mange to a special skin hospital at the base.

Horse lines and mule stables had heavy losses occasionally by shell-fire, and by the night bombing of enemy airmen. All wounds which could be treated received immediate attention. The animals were inoculated with anti-tetanic serum, the routine precaution, also, for the human subject. Usually these horse patients did exceedingly well under efficient surgical treatment, but for further service the horse—unlike the human subject—must be perfectly sound, and therefore numbers of the more seriously wounded animals had to be destroyed.

Very frequent and serious injuries were received from nails penetrating the hoofs. In the war zone where building activity was always intense, large quantities of nails became unavoidably scattered on the roads. Nails were especially plentiful near dumps, and among the ruins of shattered houses. Special steel protective plates were tried, but were not altogether successful, particularly on unevenly paved streets. The plates slipped on the stones, buckled, and bruised the sole of the foot. Generally speaking, however, the horses maintained a remarkable fitness.

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To encourage the right handling of horses, shows were held regularly by divisions in which the units competed. The men took immense pains to prepare their horses for the parade. Corps shows were also arranged. These shows proved a great attraction to all lovers of horses. Troops assembled in thousands to see them. New Zealanders always won distinction, especially with their artillery horses, and also because they had some of the best cross-country horses.

Throughout the Western campaign the New Zealand Veterinary Service worked under the direction of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps of which it formed part, and the New Zealand officers and men received the commendation of the Director-General of Veterinary Services in France, for their efficient co-operation. Similar appreciation was, also, expressed by Imperial officers in regard to the veterinary work of New Zealanders in Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine.

On the Voyage.

On the Voyage.

Much of the material in this description of the New Zealand Veterinary Corps has been supplied by Col. Young, Lt.-Col. Reid and Major Stafford to whom I must express my thanks for the assistance they have thus rendered.