Overview

Salud! reviews the enormously valuable contribution of the volunteers who left Britain to serve with the Republican Medical Services during the Spanish Civil War. Acknowledgement is given to the immense effort and self-sacrifice made by men and women from all walks of life who, working ceaselessly in the rearguard, made it possible for the medical teams to function in Spain. Such was the case in Britain where, in spite of the government's official policy of non-intervention, there was a campaign of fervent support for the legitimate Republican government. The first British Medical Unit in Spain had immense political significance for the Spanish Republic. Barely a month into the start of the civil war and this small group was the first visible sign of international support. It would later become part of the Republican Medical Service and, within that, of the Medical Service of the International Brigades. Not only did volunteers help to create and to maintain an emergency medical service, some of the individuals involved were also responsible for important developments that were of relevance to later military-medical practice and also to the history of medicine in general. Medical personnel generally worked in dreadful conditions, for hours and even days without rest, and with a lack of equipment and provisions of all kinds. They were mostly young and inexperienced men and women who suddenly found themselves thrown together in desperate circumstances, with the task of salvaging something of life amidst the inhumanity and mayhem. That they rose to the challenge is, in itself, worthy of tribute. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish.

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9781845195014

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Dr. Palfreeman provides a fascinating vision of the circumstances surrounding the creation and development of the Republican Medical Service itself. In doing so, she sheds light on the contribution made by the medical personnel of other nationalities, including the Spanish, alongside whom the British volunteers lived and worked. --Paul Preston, Series Editor, London School of Economics

Author Information

Linda Palfreeman is Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Cardenal Herrera, Elche, Spain. Her research on local aspects of the Spanish Civil War and of the International Brigades' Medical Service resulted in ¡Salud! British Volunteers in the Republican Medical Service during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 (2012), followed by Aristocrats, Adventurers and Ambulances: British Medical Units in the Spanish Civil War (2013), and Spain Bleeds: The Development of Battlefield Blood Transfusion During the Civil War (2015), the final book in this informal trilogy. Her upcoming book, Tartan Angels: The Scottish Ambulance Unit in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) (2023) continues to provide long unavailable information on health care and medical assistance during wartime.

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