Treating large Puncture wounds/shrapnel and bullet wounds  in the past was a rather difficult affair.

I went to the war museum the other day, and I paid careful attention to the past medical procedures, looking at how things were done in the past, because the more “low tech” you can go, the more sustainable your method will be.

what I noted was the following:

• Tourniquets were common, and helped keep you alive often ,even though you might ultimately loose a limb, because of the time taken to treat a wound.
• Maggots are your friend as they only eat dead flesh; which helps with cleaning out infected wounds.
• Pre-prepared Battle dressings were common , and were sterilized with petroleum jelly or Vaseline and iodine tincture.
• Alum lumps crushed into powder, are good for disinfecting and clotting large wound.
• Friars balsam or Tincture of benzoin can clot a wound very affectively.
• X-rays were a HUGE part of the medical revolution in the early 1900’s and cannot be down played , and improvising these should be part of any groups planning.
• It was not the medicine that was ineffective at the time so much as getting soldiers from the front to the medical facility that often killed them. Once they had sorted out a way to get soldiers treated promptly there was a much greater chance you would survive.