Lost Division Vintage - From The Trenches

Arthur Frederick Saunders, The Man Who wouldn't Die

A historic, full-length archival portrait of Sergeant Arthur Frederick Saunders VC of the 9th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, taken during the First World War. He is pictured standing outside in full military dress uniform, wearing a peaked service cap, high-collared tunic, puttees, and boots. He is leaning slightly on a walking cane, a poignant reminder of the severe thigh and leg wounds he sustained during his Victoria Cross action at the Battle of Loos in September 1915.

Born in Ipswich in 1878, Saunders was one of 12 children (some sources say 11 or 13, but 12 is the official census consensus) to a saddle and harness maker. His family rented and moved houses constantly because they struggled to make ends meet.

When he left the Navy in 1908, he went back to Ipswich, married his wife Edith, and got a job as an engine fitter's assistant at the agricultural engineering firm Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies.

When war broke out, he volunteered immediately. Because of his 12 years of Navy discipline, the 9th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment made him a Sergeant within just one month.

A historic black-and-white photograph capturing the emotional homecoming of Sergeant Arthur Saunders VC. He is seen sitting upright in a specialized three-wheeled invalid carriage or bath chair, wearing his military greatcoat and service cap. He is shaking hands firmly with a well-dressed woman, likely a member of his family or a welcome-home committee, who leans in towards him. This moment captures the tangible and bittersweet impact of the life-altering wounds he sustained at the Battle of Loos

He had only been in France for four weeks when he was thrown into the Battle of Loos. His battalion was sent to support a charge by the Cameron Highlanders. The attack was a disaster; all the officers were wiped out or wounded.

A German shell landed right next to Saunders. An officer's eyewitness account states it blew part of his left leg off above the knee (and shattered his thigh).

Despite bleeding out, a tourniquet was slapped on his leg. Saunders refused to crawl away. He dragged himself into the open, took control of two Lewis machine guns, and single-handedly gave orders and laid down continuous fire against 150 advancing Germans to cover the British retreat. He held the line until stretcher-bearers finally rescued him.

The initial reports from the battlefield suggested part of his left leg had been entirely blown off above the knee. However, surgeons managed to save the limb. Once the bone and muscle tissue healed, his left leg was left exactly three inches shorter than his right leg.

To compensate for the severe imbalance and allow him to walk, he had to wear a specially constructed, heavy orthopedic boot with a thick, built-up leather sole for the remaining 31 years of his life

He spent months in the hospital .

The officer he saved at Loos, Second Lieutenant Christison, later became General Sir Philip Christison. The General stayed friends with Arthur for the rest of his life and insisted that this working-class Suffolk bloke be made an Honorary Cameron Highlander.

During World War II, despite his severe WWI leg injuries, he joined up again and became a Company Sergeant Major / RSM in the Ipswich Home Guard!

He died in 1947 aged 69. He was the very first soldier from the Suffolk Regiment to ever win the Victoria Cross. His widow eventually gifted his actual VC medal to the Suffolk Regiment Museum on her 99th birthday.

A detailed, close-up photograph of the specialized, custom-made medical boot worn by Sergeant Arthur Saunders VC. It is a robust, dark brown, well-worn leather boot with a distinctive bulbous, reinforced toe section designed to accommodate his permanently damaged foot. The boot features heavy stitching and traditional lace-up eyelets, standing as a tangible historical artifact that represents his daily struggle with the injuries sustained during his VC-winning action.

scanned image of a vintage newspaper clipping titled with the bold headline: "Widow gives valuable VC to museum." The article includes a sepia-toned portrait photograph of Sergeant Arthur Saunders VC in uniform, with the caption: "The late Sgt. Saunders, wearing his Victoria Cross." The accompanying text, written by Tim Cowen, details how his widow, Mrs. Edith Saunders, donated his original Victoria Cross to the Suffolk Regiment Museum, after previously vowing never to sell it despite its high valuation.

The Brutal Reality of WWI Artillery & The Birth of Modern Medicine

Shrapnel from exploding artillery shells was the absolute number one cause of battlefield deaths on the Western Front, accounting for a staggering 60% to 70% of all WWI casualties.

These jagged metal fragments tore open flesh and shattered bones. Because these horrific wounds weren't always instantly fatal, thousands of men survived the initial blast only to succumb to shock or lethal infection weeks later in a field hospital.

The Fight Against Infection: The Carrel-Dakin Method

In the early years of the war, antibiotics didn't exist. Standard antiseptics like carbolic acid actually burned healthy tissue and completely failed to stop lethal gas gangrene from spreading through the mud-soaked wounds.

To fight back, a French surgeon and a British chemist teamed up. Alexis Carrel and Henry Dakin engineered a mild bleach antiseptic that killed the bacteria safely without destroying the flesh.

By continuously dripping this solution into deep wounds through a system of rubber tubes, they slashed battlefield infection rates and saved countless lives from amputation and death.

The Reconstruction of Broken Faces

Before 1914, plastic surgery barely existed. Then came WWI.

Shrapnel and machine-gun fire left thousands of soldiers with horrific, shattered faces. These men faced devastating trauma—they were often feared by the public, stared at on the streets, and tragically rejected by their own families.

To give these men a future, Dr. Harold Gillies opened the world's first specialized facial reconstruction unit.

At the time, normal skin grafts simply died and rotted away. To bypass this, Gillies invented a radical new trick: he rolled healthy chest skin into a tight, living tube, keeping it connected to the blood supply, to literally "walk" the living tissue up to the face.

The Human Cost

These pioneering medical advancements didn't just save lives; they restored a sense of humanity to men who had been completely shattered by industrial warfare. The scars carried by these soldiers—both visible and invisible—shaped a generation, serving as a permanent reminder of the brutal reality of life on the Western Front

The Heartbreak of WW1 Home Leave

At the beginning of WW1, soldiers were not granted leave as it was assumed the conflict was going to be a short affair.

But in 1915 this changed and home leaves were granted, at least from the Western Front, every 10 to 18 months. They were anything between 6 days to 14 days.

While home leave was welcomed, many soldiers experienced severe culture shock at their return.

The contrast between the horrors of the front lines and civilian life at home often left men feeling alienated or struggling to relate to civilians.

Many recounted they had difficulties sleeping in a soft bed after months or years sleeping on the mud of the trenches .Mothers got shocked to find their sons sleeping on the floor.

Many found that their town & villages had become ghost towns as the rest of young men were still at the front or had died.

Because of this disconnect, the men often felt a strong pull to return to the only people who truly understood what they were going through: their comrades in arms.

Others struggled to cope with the severe discipline of returning to war. Instances of indiscipline, overstaying, or fraudulent train travel increased.

And of course 70,000 never came back at all...

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