Response of the Australian Medical Services to restoration of mobile warfare on the Western Front in 1918 (part II).

On 4 July 1918, at the Battle of Hamel, the Australian Medical Services used a Field Ambulance Resuscitation Team for the first time, delivering life-saving blood transfusion and early definitive surgery to badly wounded soldiers very soon after their wounds had been inflicted. During the closing months of the war, many lives and limbs were saved by early resuscitation and effective surgery, an achievement that stands out in marked contrast to the situation in 1914, when inadequate resuscitation, outdated surgical methods and appalling delays in delivering treatment resulted in great numbers of unnecessary deaths.