[Medical officers and battle of Verdun]

The battle of Verdun began February the 21st and finished 1916 December the 16th. Medical officers were closely involved in this battle and particularly the French physicians and surgeons due to rapid rotations of their unities. The time for organising the medical corps was short. Testimonies of medical officers were limited in comparison with other type of soldiers and most of them were included in diaries edited until now. In addition to get back, treat the wounded soldiers then evacuate them to adequate medical unity, the medical officers had to solve the problem of thirst and the treatment of water: the so called technique: verdunisation. In addition, new pathologies occurred such as frozen feet, chemical wounds. Medical officers of the rear had to treat a huge amount of wounded men: 216, 337 men excluded those wounded by gas. A thousand of medical officers died during the First World War. During the first four months of the battle of Verdun, 33 doctors were killed, 13 disappeared and 86 were wounded. The battle of Verdun was for all the medical corps a fierce experiment.