ABSTRACT
Some of the most impressive veterans of the 40th Army, with the most poignant tales to tell, are the doctors, nurses, sanitars, fel'dshers and orderlies of the medical services. For this was perhaps the first time the Soviet military had ever established a modern, effective medical structure. Armoured ambulances and aircraft were in constant use evacuating the dead and wounded, with nine out of ten casualties being whisked away by specially modified Mi-8 Bessektrisa ('Indiscretion') helicopters to a network of medpunkty, medical companies and hospitals, similarly linked by air. Some 93 per cent of wounded troops received initial medical aid within 30 minutes and the attention of a specialised doctor within six hours. This 'casevac' was just the first stage, though, and having braved the bullets and rockets of the battlefield, the medics then had to cope with shoddy equipment, shortages and the usual red tape. Still, somehow, they managed. Nurses would spend their free time preparing bandages. Officers on leave would return with suitcases of supplies and drugs bought on the black market. Where possible, they would spend the precious hard currency vouchers which would otherwise have bought them foreign luxuries on Japanese disposable syringes (Soviet ones were often broken or packaged in 'sterile' paper that was frequently already torn), Italian plastic plasma packages (instead of the heavy, fragile Soviet glass bottles) and inflatable British splints instead of cumbersome Soviet 'skis'. Sometimes, they would don flak jackets and helmets and join commandos raiding rebel supply convoys simply to loot the caravans for Westernsupplied medical goods.
