In this 1944 U.S. War Department training film (TF 8-2047), viewers see how World War II soldiers were instructed to administer first aid to soldiers wounded on the battlefield. The film uses reenactments of a variety of injuries to show how to apply a compress and a tourniquet, how to splint a broken leg, and how to care for wounds to the lung, head, and intestines. The film opens with shots of troops marching down a road next to a tank, artillery guns firing shells, and gunners firing machine guns. A soldier falls to the ground after taking a hit (01:30); he lifts his shirt to show a bullet wound on his side. Soldiers sit on the ground and watch a first aid training session. A soldier examines a gunshot wound to another soldier’s lower leg (03:04). He gets out a first aid kit and applies gauze on the injured soldier’s wound, wraps the wound, gives the injured soldier wound tablets, and then places the soldier’s gun as a marker to signal the wounded man’s location. In the next scenario, a lone soldier treats a gunshot wound to his forearm (05:30). Using his good hand, he takes applies a compress on the wound. He ties the dressing, takes his wound tablets, and then covers himself with his field jacket to help prevent shock. The following scenario shows a solider treating an injured soldier’s leg wound. The uninjured soldier applies a tourniquet to the injured man’s leg (07:48), using a scabbard to tighten the tourniquet. He covers the wounded man with a blanket. The film then reviews the importance of loosening the tourniquet every twenty minutes. In the following scenario, a soldier treats a wounded soldier’s broken leg. He uses his bayonet to cut the pant leg of the injured soldier. He splints the broken leg to the soldier’s good leg using a field jacket as a cushion between the two legs (12:00). Next, viewers see a soldier who appears to be taken out at the ankles by machine gun fire (12:44). The film reveals that the soldier is actually suffering from a gunshot wound to his face. Another soldier tends to the injured soldier by applying a compress over the wound. In the next scenario, the film shows a soldier tending to a man who’s suffered an abdomen wound, where a piece of the injured man’s intestines is protruding from the wound. The assisting soldier lightly covers the wound and then dabs a wet cloth on the injured man’s lips to help quench his thirst. In the next scenario, a Nazi soldier stabs an American with a bayonet (16:28); another American kills the German then tends to the wound on his comrade’s chest (the injury is a punctured lung). The soldier uses a raincoat and belts to make the wound airtight so the wounded soldier can better breathe until medics arrive. In the final scenario, viewers see a soldier help care for another man’s gunshot wound on his head (18:49). The film then recaps what to do and what not to do in the various scenarios while showing clips previously featured in the scenarios of the film, highlighting the different first aid issues men will encounter in battle. A soldier gives an injured soldier a drink of water and a cigarette (21:15). Medics arrive and evacuate a wounded soldier to an aid station where the soldier receives medical attention (22:24), concluding the film.
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