The Regimental Aid Post was situated just behind the front line, often in dug outs or cellars in the rear trench system, and was the first stage in the evacuation of the wounded. Aid posts had no capacity to house patients, and were equipped to provide emergency first aid only, either returning men to the front immediately or evacuating more serious casualties to Advanced Dressing Stations in the rear. Men were brought in by stretchers or made their own way by walking; given the devastation immediately behind the lines, this is also how they had to reach the second line of treatment centres. Note the bloodstains on the stretcher, which seem to have been made by a previous patient.
Uniform details suggest photograph taken in 1917.
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