The combat medic was one of the unsung heroes of World War II. All armies had them, and he lived with the front line infantrymen and was the first to answer a call for help. He gave first aid to his wounded comrades and helped them out of the line of enemy fire. More often than not, he faced the enemy unarmed and was the foundation of the medical system with hundreds of thousands of surgeons, nurses, scientists, and enlisted medics.

During World War II drugs such as sulfa (Sulfanilamide) and penicillin were discovered and advanced surgical techniques were introduced to make lifesaving improvements possible, but the first reason for such successes in improving the mortality rate was the speed with which wounded men were treated. It began with the frontline combat medics. In the beginning of the war at training camps, medics had been mildly despised because many of them were conscientious objectors and often ridiculed. Sometimes called "Pill Pushers" or worse. But in combat they were loved, respected and admired.

The main objective of the medic was to get the wounded away from the front lines. Many times this involved the medic climbing out from the protection of his foxhole during shelling or into no-mans-land to help a fallen comrade. Once with the wounded soldier, the medic would do a brief examination, evaluate the wound, apply a tourniquet if necessary, sometimes inject a vial of morphine, clean up the wound as best as possible and sprinkle sulfa powder on the wound followed by a bandage. Then he would drag or carry the patient out of harms way and to the rear. This was often done under enemy fire or artillery shelling.

A medic in base-to-base contact with a soldier with a Light Wound (LW) may spend two actions applying First Aid. Doing so eliminates the +5 LW modifier for the wounded soldiers actions each turn for the remainder of the scenario. Note however, that the Light Wounded soldier is still limited to one action instead of the normal two because of the wound.

Aid Radius

A medic has a 15 Aid Radius and any soldiers with a LW within LOS & Aid Radius are not subject to the +5 LW modifier to the Moral Check (MC) that normally results from a LW on the Effects Chart.

Self-Rally

Medics often have to cross no mans land in order to reach their fallen comrades. Because of this, all Medics are able to Self-rally using their normal Morale instead of using ½ Morale.

It occurred that, upon occasion, Medics were targeted by enemy soldiers--even when it was expressly forbidden by the Geneva Convention. Any side that PURPOSEFULLY targets any Un-Armed Medic and causes a LW or worse, will cause all enemy soldiers that are in Aid Radius & LOS of that Medic to become Fanatics. This applies to small arms fire & grenades only; artillery & other HE rounds are considered to be area firing, or firing from a distance that cannot recognize the Medics markings.

NOTE: Medics must be marked by some sort of identification (see figure 1; figures on the table must have some sort of Medic markings on them) to qualify for this rule. The Fanatic rule lasts for the entire scenario and does not apply to those Medics that are Armed (see below).

 

Some Medics went unarmed, some didn't. Medics that arm themselves,even if not firing are considered soldier capable of killing and thus are exempt from the Thats Against the Geneva Convention! Rule. Medics may be armed with any weapon listed in their Weapon Class.