Horse-drawn ambulance, 1914
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1 Describe key features.
One key feature of transport on the Western Front was that transport was designed to carry large parties of the injured quickly and efficiently. For example, ambulance trains could carry up to 800 casualties to base hospitals where they would receive appropriate treatment. A second key feature of transport on the Western Front was its careful design. For example, transports such as ambulance barges could transport those with delicate injuries such as back problems more smoothly than road travel, so that their injuries wouldn’t be exacerbated en route. Furthermore, horse-drawn ambulances were still used instead of motor ambulances in muddy conditions as the horses were more able to get through the thick mud than the cars. |
2a Utility
Source A is partially useful for an enquiry into transport on the Western Front. This is useful because it shows us how injured soldiers were transported. By the size of the horse-drawn ambulance, we can estimate that very few casualties could be carried at once, which was one of the reasons that motor ambulances were introduced in addition, as the horse-drawn ambulances could not cope with the number of wounded. The source is a photograph, which allows us to accurately see exactly what the horse-drawn ambulances looked like.
However, its utility is also limited for an enquiry into transport on the western front because it only shows us one particular form of transport, and not any of the other transport methods such as barges, 800 trains, and over 250 motor ambulances, which were all used after 1914. The level of detail is limited even on the horse-drawn ambulance, as we cannot see the inside of the carriage. The photograph therefore depicts an atypical scene, and really shows a situation early on in the war. Although these horse-drawn ambulances did continue to be used after 1914, they were mainly used in muddy conditions where the motor cars were less useful, but the challenges of terrain are not shown in the image, which means it doesn’t give a particularly accurate representation of transport on the Western Front.