ABSTRACT
The disposition and experiences of the army and civilian medical services in some of the individual campaigns may help to illustrate some of the features of their organisation that have been mentioned, and also one of the fundamental principles of war: however neat the chain-of-command diagrams may appear on a sheet of paper, they are, like all sheets of paper, invariably blown into disorder by the chaotic storms of battle. In some of these campaigns, particularly where large cities are under attack, it is impossible to separate military from civilian hospital services. The Nationalists, in their rapid initial advance, were able to call upon the experience of their regular army medical officers, most of whom had served in the Moroccan campaigns, and, in their subsequent progress, they were frequently able to avail themselves of existing hospital networks. The Republicans had the advantage of a number, however insufficient at the outset, of established hospitals, and of the contributions of the international community. A brief introductory section outlines the military aspects of these campaigns, before the disposition of the medical services on the two warring sides is described.
