New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

The Chain of Evacuation on the Western Front

I can explain the organisation of the Chain of Evacuation on the Western Front and the challenges the system faced.

New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

The Chain of Evacuation on the Western Front

I can explain the organisation of the Chain of Evacuation on the Western Front and the challenges the system faced.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The Royal Army Medical Corps and Voluntary Aid Detachments helped provide medical care to soldiers.
  2. The Chain of Evacuation was used to organise treatment for wounded men.
  3. Surgeries took place at Casualty Clearing Stations and Base Hospitals.
  4. A range of methods, including the use of stretcher bearers, were used to transport wounded men.
  5. Several factors, including the local terrain, could make evacuating wounded soldiers challenging.

Keywords

  • Evacuation - to move people from a dangerous place to somewhere safer

  • Terrain - a particular type of land

Common misconception

Most surgical treatment was provided at Base Hospitals.

Most surgeries occurred at Casualty Clearing Stations due to the need to attend to wounded soldiers' needs quickly.


To help you plan your year 10 history lesson on: The Chain of Evacuation on the Western Front, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

After Task B, instruct pupils to produce their own diagram of a Casualty Clearing Station. This may include colour codes to indicate the following: closest stage to the frontline; where most surgeries occurred; where the most patients could be cared for.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

Prior knowledge starter quiz

Download quiz pdf

6 Questions

Q1.
A is an injury, especially one that is made by a bullet or sharp object.

Correct Answer: wound

Q2.
How many British soldiers suffered from trench foot during WWI?

10 000
25 000
50 000
Correct answer: 75 000

Q3.
Poison gas accounted for what percentage of deaths in the British Army during WWI?

Correct answer: 1%
10%
25%
50%
75%

Q4.
Match each medical condition to its cause.

Correct Answer:trench fever,contact with lice

contact with lice

Correct Answer:trench foot,standing in cold and muddy water

standing in cold and muddy water

Correct Answer:shell shock,trauma of war

trauma of war

Q5.
What were Brodie helmets intended to protect soldiers from?

lice
poison gas
Correct answer: shrapnel

Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.

2 - outbreak of WWI
3 - introduction of tetanus vaccines for soldiers
4 - British soldiers supplied with gas masks
5 - proven that lice were responsible for trench fever

Assessment exit quiz

Download quiz pdf

6 Questions

Q1.
The Chain of was a system used to move wounded men to locations where they could receive appropriate medical care.

Correct Answer: Evacuation

Q2.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following stages of the Chain of Evacuation into their correct order.

1 - Regimental Aid Post
2 - Dressing Station
3 - Casualty Clearing Station
4 - Base Hospital

Q3.
Where were most surgeries conducted on the Western Front?

Base Hospitals
Correct answer: Casualty Clearing Stations
Dressing Stations
Regimental Aid Posts

Q4.
What proportion of VAD members were female in 1914?

one-quarter
one-half
Correct answer: two-thirds
three-quarters

Q5.
Wounds which were serious enough to require treatment back in Britain, but not life-threatening, were known as wounds.

Correct Answer: Blighty

Q6.
Which statement is correct?

Stretcher bearers only worked at night.
Correct answer: Stretcher bearers were sometimes killed by snipers and shells.
Stretcher bearers were never killed by enemy forces.

Additional material

Download additional material