WW1 German medical items

[Daniel Murphy]

I have picked up a number of WW1 German medical items some time ago and keep them in this WW1 medical orderly's belt pouch. It is quite a bit larger than the 30's-WW2 pouches at about 7 inches (L)by 3 inches (W) by 4 inches (H). The hardware is all brass and it is maker marked but not dated. This would make it pre war to about 1915.

Dan

Edited August 27, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Daniel Murphy]

Back view. Note the early brass rivets and maker mark "T. BITGEN / KARLSRUHE".

[Daniel Murphy]

As we open the lid. The scalpel and tweezers in the leather hold are not german, just to have something in there. No more about them.

[Daniel Murphy]

The first item out is some anti-tetanus serum in the original box. With all of the rusty junk out in the trenches this was a neccesity.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Daniel Murphy]

Here we see the sealed bottle still in it's packing.

[Daniel Murphy]

Upon removing the bottle we see it still has its original lead seal. I do believe that is a cork under the waterproofed paper. The contents are of course, long dried up.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Daniel Murphy]

Close up of the bottle.

[Daniel Murphy]

Here we have some military issue Gauze from the time of Verdun.

[Daniel Murphy]

Yup, thats what it says. A little cardboard container for Catgut. Used for stitches. This one is 1916 also.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Daniel Murphy]

Inside we have 5 little paper packets of catgut.

[Daniel Murphy]

Opened up.

[Daniel Murphy]

Just a (now) rock hard rubber tourniquet. This would have been used for drawing blood, etc. Who knows how old, but it came with the rest.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Daniel Murphy]

A roll of unmarked cotton wadding. Well, it all can't be cool.

[Daniel Murphy]

This is cool. A bottle of Gas Gangrene serum. Gas gangrene may not be familiar to many of you, So I will explain it. When a person was wounded small pieces of his muddy uniform was often carried into the wound. With all of the pieces of God knows what (feces, bits of humanity, gas etc. )in the mud of the battlefield, this caused the wound to become infected. This type of infection closed over the wound, which turned green and then the wound would swell up from the gas produced from the infection. This could lead to the loss of a limb, but a head wound with this was usually fatal. Thankfully this was identified fairly early in the war and the good Doktor came up with this serum to fight it and thus save life and limb.

[Daniel Murphy]

Sliding the little tin lever forward breaks the seal and releases the lid which is then swiveled aside. The container is milled from one piece of wood, not counting the lid.

[Daniel Murphy]

Removing the contents we have the bottle wrapped in...what is that?

Edited August 27, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Daniel Murphy]

Never mind that, here is a close up of the bottle.

[Daniel Murphy]

Here is another view giving us a shot of the seal.

[Daniel Murphy]

Oh, that stuff wrapped around the bottle? The directions for use. Sorry for posting so much stuff this weekend. I was off and pulled out a trunk of stuff I hadn't seen in years. It was like Christmas so I decided to post it.

Dan Murphy

[Chip]

Dan,

That's a really nice first aid pouch. The contents are excellent. It is rare that you find one with the original contents, especially those that have not been disturbed. I especially like the wartime dated issue items. The pouch appears to me to be either a private purchase piece (for the Freiwill.Krankenpflege) or a prewar issue example. As you say it is larger than the normal WWI era issue pouches. There were two different sets of issue pouches during the war. Though they looked the same on the outside, the pouches were marked differently and had different contents. The Sanit?tsunteroffizier pouches were marked with an "S", while the Krankentr?ger pouches were marked with a "K". I have a list of the contents for each if you would like me to post it.

I have several pairs of these, but none with contents. A year or so ago, a large lot of issue Ersatz medical pouches were found. They were made from paper cloth (Papiergarn). Interestingly, they were made by the maker who seems to have supplied the majority of the leather pouches to the army, Karl Barth. Both the "S" and the "K" type pouches were in the lot. The maker of your pouch is L. Ritgen, a well-known maker of imperial leather items.

Being primarily an insignia collector, I love the medical uniform items. I have a large assortment of medical officer's shoulder insignia, collar tabs, as well as related armbands. Here are a few.

Chip

Edited August 27, 2006 by Chip

[Chip]

Dan,

Please list the contents on the inside lid of the pouch, if you would. Here are two more armbands. The second one is interesting, as even though it has a Prussian stamp (Stehendes Kriegslazareth d.VI Armee Korps), the only period photo I have seen of an armband with this style of cross being worn, was of an Austrian soldier.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Chip

[Daniel Murphy]

Chip,

Thanks. I figured if no one else got a kick out of this you would. You have a great collection of armbands. I just love the one with the big Prussian eagle stamp. I have never seen that Bevo? type for WW1.

Here is your list of contents.

1 Hartgummikasten rait buerste und seifs. (1 hard rubber box with brushes and soaps.)

5 Verbandpaeckchen. (5 First-aid Packets)

3 Kambricbinden. (not sure on this one, some kind of binding)

1 Nadeltasche. (1 Needle Bag)

Auf dem Boden: 1 Grosses dreieckiges Tuch. (On the bottom: 1 large triangular cloth.)

An der inneren Seite des Deckels: 1 Schere, 1 Nadelreiniger. (At the internal side of the cover: 1 shears, 1 needle cleaner.) What the heck is a needle cleaner?

If anyone else has some items like this pease post them.

Dan

[Chip]

Ah Dan,

You are starting to figure me out. No big secret....I love it all! Thanks for the list of contents. This is not the same list as that of the two types of pouches that I described. Neither of them has a leather sleeve in the lid for the scissors and needle sterilizer. The list from the Krankentr?gertasche (L) includes a loose pouch (1 Zwirntuchtasche, darin: 1 gerade Schere, 1 anatomische Pinzette).

During this period, needles were restrung and reused, so there needed to be a means of reprocessing them for the next patient, thus the needle sterilizer.

Kambric, also known as Kambrik or Kammmertuch, is a fine linen that got its name from the early German name for Cambrai (Kamerich) where it was made and was named for.

You will notice that the list on your lid does not have any of the salves and medicines that you have in your pouch. The reason is that they were not the normal contents. These types of items (Arzneimittel) are only found in the Sanit?tertasche ( R), though none of these specific things are listed. Perhaps they are from a larger case or medical backpack.

Yes, the cross on the Freiwil.Krankenpflege armband is a Bevo type weave.

Chip

Edited August 28, 2006 by Chip

[Daniel Murphy]

Chip,

I am not sure what kind of needle sterilizer would fit in there. Assuming the longer part is for the shears, the small section is only about 1/2 inch by 4 inches MAX. Perhaps some sort of small tray that needles could be placed in and put over a fire or alcohol burner. Any ideas? So we have shears for cutting the uniform or removing old bandages, brushes and soap for cleaning wounds, needles (and obviously there would have been something for stitches), bandages for covering the wounds, linen binding (for making field made splints perhaps)I suppose my two bindings of stengthened gauze from 1916 would cover that, a large triangular bandage ( I always wanted one with the printed intsructions), and a needle sterilizer. Oh, and there is that divider in the back for a first aid booklet. Didn't see that did ya? It sounds like a general purpose aid mans kit. Agreed some of the things sound like what a doctor would have used. Especially the injectibles.

Dan

Edited August 28, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Chip]

Dan,

I would assume that you are correct about the needle sterilizer. It most likely was a small, thin metal tray with lid that would have slots for the needles. It would have been steam heated somehow. Now that I think about it, they could also have been hypodermic needles.

I still don't see any divider and you didn't mention it before.

Chip