Item 01: Sir Charles Rosenthal diary, 25 September 1914-31 December 1918 - Page 440
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[Page 440]
no further than the Western end. From this vantage point, we spent some ten minutes in thoroughly examining enemy territory. Just as we were about to leave, a Boche sniper succeeded in locating me, firing only one shot, with the result, however, that my right thumb was shattered, & the bullet deflected into the flesh part of the fore-arm, severely lacerating nerves, flesh, & artery, and making its exit on the outer side of the fore-arm. Luckily with the exception of the bones of the thumb, no others were damaged. Owing to a considerable loss of arterial blood, I felt rather groggy, and then decided to rest where I was for a little time. However the Boche artillery at this time commenced to land 5.9"s uncomfortably near us. We therefore decided to take our rest later on, & walked across to the R.A.P. of the right Battalion, where the Medical Officer properly dressed the wound. I then took car back to Divl. Headquarters, spoke to the Corps Commander on the telephone, & arranged for Gen. Wisdom to carry on during my absence. I gathered a few things together, had a light lunch, and with the A.D.M.S. & Capt. Boddam came to the Main Dressing Station at Amiens, where Col. Sir Vincent Welch re-dressed the wounds, and sent me on to No. 5 C.C.S. at Coury. Fearing that I might be evacuated to England, I arranged with D.D.M.S. 4th Army that I should be transferred to No. 3 A.G.H, Abbeville, but on arrival at this latter Hospital, I discovered that they had no Officers' Ward, and accordingly did not accept officers as patients. I then got into touch with the D.D.M.S., L. of C., and obtained permission to remain here. At 5 p.m. Col. Taylor-Young & Major Matthews put me on the operating table, and spent two hours in thoroughly patching me up. I came out of the anaesthetic at 8 & had a fairly good night 's sleep.