MEDICAL CLASSICS

摘要

Guerilla Surgeon is a long forgotten medical classic. Lindsay Rogers was a New Zealand surgeon working in Egypt during the second world war who volunteered to work as a surgeon behind enemy lines with the Yugoslav partisans. He was initially sentto Vis, an island off the Dalmatian coast, and laterto'Croatia and Slovenia. His account, though beautifully written;' often contrasts with his rather idyllic earlier life on a farm in th'e South Island. His surgical work was done in conditions th'at wefe'daunting, to say the least. He supervised five guerilla hospitals that were hidden in the forests, often near to German troops. The hospitals had to be well camouflaged, as the Germans made special efforts to locate and destroy them. In remote areas, the hospitals and all their patients sometimes had to be movedevery few days to avoid discovery. Rogers often operated with no anaesthetics other than raki and morphine. Sterile supplies were usually not available. His descriptions of brain surgery arid amputations in these conditions are harrowing.