Lighting components for diorama of a First World War dressing station

The scene shows a familiar sight during the First World War, injured soldiers being carried by stretcher bearers from dressing stations to casualty clearing stations further behind the front line. The surgeon on the right hand side is using a kitchen table as an operating table and his instruments are being sterilised using an autoclave heated by a small portable stove.

All medical and surgical equipment had to be light enough to carry to wherever it was needed. Soldiers could experience a range of injuries caused by artillery, bullets or poison gas. Sixty-five million troops fought during the First World War, of which eight million were killed and nineteen million were wounded.