All the great ancient civilisations had skilled surgeons. Working without anaesthetics and using only primitive painkillers, they learned to deal with devastating battle wounds inflicted by knives, swords, spears and arrows. Then came firepower. Faced with these new horrors of war, could the war surgeons continue to save lives?

In this episode, we will be looking at medical advancements achieved through war experience and how surgeons and medics coped with the battle scarred of World Wars I, II and the Spanish Civil War.

The third episode in this series looks at medical advancements achieved through war experience and how surgeons and medics coped with the battle-scarred of the Korean, Vietnam and more recent wars.