British ambulances in the Franco-Prussian War
The term "ambulance" at this time denoted a medical organisation that provided field hospitals, transport and surgical operations, not the more limited modern use.
[4] A number of other neutral nations formed their own ambulances to provide medical assistance during the war including the Netherlands, Italy, Austria and Belgium.
All of the major powers subsequently made efforts to establish permanent organised ambulance services for the transport and treatment of their wounded during wartime.
The Anglo-American Ambulance was led by Confederate American Civil War veteran J. Marion Sims, who was then resident in France, and British surgeon William MacCormac.
[16] The unit left Paris on 28 August by train for the battlefield of Carignan but was delayed as Prussian forces had captured the railway line.
The ambulance was held at Sedan railway station where its personnel encountered the French Emperor Napoleon III and the retreating survivors of the Battle of Beaumont.
[16]: Ch 1–3 Twelve men of the ambulance treated more than 600 wounded of the subsequent Battle of Sedan (1–2 September) from a hospital that periodically came under shellfire.
[16]: Ch 4–7 With the ambulance at Sedan was Marcus Beck who reported that the French army surgeons had not adopted the anti-septic measures advocated by his father's cousin Joseph Lister.
[16]: Ch 8–11 However, it proved impossible to enter the capital due to the ongoing siege and instead the unit was placed at the disposal of the Prussian Army at Versailles by Robert Loyd-Lindsay of the British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War.
A number of the ambulance's men were arrested by the Prussian authorities on suspicion of espionage whilst procuring medical supplies at Étampes but were shortly thereafter released.
[16]: Ch 28–31 The Anglo-American Ambulance has been described as a key means of exchanging medical best practice between the volunteers and the French and Prussian surgeons they worked with.
[15] The British Ambulance Corps was raised to serve with the Prussian forces, but also cared for captured French wounded during the Siege of Paris of September 1870 to January 1871.
[20] Manley was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his actions during the war, on the recommendation of Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia who commanded the III Army (to which the 22nd Division belonged).
[21] The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was founded at a public meeting in the Willis Rooms in London on 4 August 1870.
The organisation's surgeons received special permission from William, King of Prussia to cross the German lines to provide aid during the Siege of Paris.
He advocated the quick transport of the wounded from the battlefield and helped to evaluate the effectiveness of stretchers and splints designed by his staff and that of the Anglo-American Ambulance.
[28][29][24]: 136–137 A second Irish ambulance unit was raised in London but was turned away upon arrival at Caen as no arrangements had been made with the French authorities to accept it.
