Would a stretcher bearer (wearing a hilfs-krankentrager armband) always have medical blue waffen farbe? or were these temporary assignments and non medical waffenfarbes would be OK also? I know obviously that medical personnel wearing red cross armbands were full time medical troops with blue waffenfarbe, but I thought because stretcher bearers were assigned (from other branches) perhaps other (like infantry white) farbes would be appropriate? I have a gebirgsjager mannequin with light green waffen farbe with the stretcher bearer arm band... so I was wondering if that was accurate! Thanks Nick
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Hi Nick
Krankentr******228;ger (ordelies) and Hilfskrankentr******228;ger (auxiliary ordelies) were soldiers attached to their unit, so they wore the waffenfarbe of their branche. They could wear a RC- or Hilfskrankentr******228;ger armband. They had however no medical specialist badge.
The specialist/trade badge was only worn by Sanit******228;ter (both NCO's and EM's)...these were specific trained soldiers, and in addition they could wear a RC-armband.
Note that not all of the trained NCO's and EM's had a specialist badge though.
So, your setup is 100 % accurate...any pictures to share?
Cheers
Jan'Arzt und Soldat' -
Hi Nick -
I always thought the Hilfs-Krankentr******228;ger armbands were for any service branch, and even civilians if they were pressed in to helping. They merely designated a temporary duty. Your set up sounds fine to me.
DonComment
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krankentrager branch piping
Thanks for confirming guys! that's what I thought, just wasn't 100% sure. I can e-mail pictures if you're interested in my GJ set up, but still have limited membership capabilities...can't post any at this time...but maybe down the road!Sorry! Thanks again for replying to my post! NickComment
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Combat medics (medics on the front line with the troops) wore the waffenfarbe of their Bn/Abt. (They were Bn assets, under Bn orders etc)
Only Medical Bn troops wore Blue.(The troops of the more rear area medical echelon the field hospitals etc)Comment
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This may be true of enlisted ranks, I don't know, but it is not true of officers. Most (all) Inf, Pz, GBJ,Art, etc....Battlions were assigned a Medical Officer and a few medical Nco's and perhaps EMs.Originally posted by Paul Walmsley
These Medical Officers were generally part of the Bn staff company and the Medical Ncos could be attached to the line companys. I know that the Medical Officers in these line Bns wore Cornflower Blue color of arms.Comment
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I remember reading a book on the topic. From what I can remember, Medics and Doctors were all part of a Medical Military structure and were for lack of better words, on loan to individual field units.
The way I understand things is that all medical personnel wore the cornflower blue waffenfarbe. Period.
Stretcher Bearers were basically men provided to the medic by the unit to be utilized to help the medic, if the need arose. They were not medical personnel, per se. The duty of Stretcher Bearer was a secondary duty for the personnel assigned. In otherwords, they could be infantry men from within the unit. All Stretcher Bearers I have seen in photos wore the waffenfarbe of their parent unit(Infantry, PzrGrn, Calv, and ect). I believe that a Stretcher Bearer might have had minimum medical training, which would have been provided by the medic or assigned medical staff.
If I am wrong, please correct me.Last edited by PaulR; 08-26-2006, 01:01 PM.Comment
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Originally posted by PaulR
From my study of the subject I pretty much agree with the above comments. The stretcher bearers in line Bns may have performed some medical support duties for the doctor and NCO medical branch personnel. It is a similar situation to the speciality training in all of the trades and skills that can be found in these combat Bns in other areas like communications, weapons etc..Comment
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If I understood everything correctly, the Germans seemed to utilize their stretcher Bearers in a manner that we do today.
When I was on a ship(1998-01) and when I was based in Iraq(2003-04), I had four stretcher bearers. They consisted of lower level Seamen(Privates), who I trained in basic first aid and in other tasks that would be helpful in my treatment of any casualities. They were also responsible for tranporting patients to me, in the Battle Dressing Station. They were not medics by trade. My stretcher bearers were issued the red cross arm band.
This is how I interpret the use of German strecher bearers as well.Comment
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I guess that I'm getting too strung out on this topic, but I think that some of the confusion is due to the use of the term "stretcher bearer", that is as a career rather than as a task!
There were all skill levels of Medical trained personnel and the ranks to go with them. The lowest level and often most forward of these were at least often other branch soldiers with some additional medical training. Anyone and everyone could be involved in evacuating casualities off of the battlefield. Many times this was simply detailed to the lighter wounded of all of the wounded!
I don't think that anyone was specifically earmarked to do nothing by carry stretchers 24/7!
Another point is that all military personnel were trained in basic first aid and were more often than not the "first responders" when a buddy was hit. I would not want one of these types performing open heart surgery on me, but as to applying direct pressure and a compress bandage on a sucking chest wound I would take what I could get, whether from a machine gunner or a chief surgeon.Comment
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PaulR are you're not telling me they wore red crosses in iraq?
(I'm in USN/USMC (res) Med Bn- never heard of our guys wearing red crosses !)
As for germans, yes stretcher bearers could have no medical training. Platoon medics did. Still wore the line Bn waffenfarbe. Lower EM ranks. Near the shooting. Just like our military, they are Bn assets.
At higher levels then men from Med Bns can be "farmed out" to the next level 2 echelon (aid stations etc) Usually higher ranks.
Above platoon, Bn/Regtal Med officer wore blue, makes sense.....Not sure about NCO's at say company level.....
There's that famous LW/assault wrapper/NCO/medic in blue.......Comment
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Posted for member Nick!
Here's a picture of the GJ setup belonging to Nick.'Arzt und Soldat'Comment
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Originally posted by Paul Walmsley View Post
No no no... my stretcher bearers wore the red cross on white cloth armbands during drills on the cutter- (for crew recognition).... in the Caribbean. When I was in Iraq or the surrounding areas, we certainly did not wear any special insignia.(I did wear the Naval Medical inisignia on my Left Collar)
I have never seen or heard of a medical piped wrapper. I would love to see it! Can someone post where it can be found
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Here is a great website that goes into great depth on the subject of Medical Corps.
Just follow the prompts. It is a worthwhile read with lots of photos and illustrations!
Paul
http://www.wwiidaybyday.com/Comment
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