Page 34 - JSOM Winter 2018

• Induction of new guerrillas means medical examinations • Severely punish hospital rule violations.
and mass treatment. • Keep rigid discipline.
• Give knowledge of contact points only to evacuation per- • Only use hideouts once.
sonnel, commanders, and medical officers. • Evacuation plans should include elimination of all traces of
• Tell cache locations only to a few. activity before abandoning the area.
• Code any references to names and places. • Achieve mobility for evacuation by preparing equipment in
• Give the key to the codes only on a need-to-know basis. one-man loads.
• Cache less mobile equipment.
Hospital/Medical • Destroy or hide material of intelligence value to the enemy.
• Underground dug out shelters are warmer in winter. • Police the area before departure.
• Secret hospitals should be built of local materials that blend • Eliminate all signs of the route of withdrawal.
in with the surroundings. • Rely on memory; do not write down information.
• Appoint a person to oversee hospital camouflage and • Do not mark installations on maps or papers that are taken
transport. off the base.
• Major surgery is possible even under the most difficult • Habitually memorize the location of installations and areas.
conditions. • Keep administrative records at minimum and cache.
• Guerrillas may not want American immunizations and • Destroy records of no further value.
drugs. • Pre-establishment of underground hideouts before combat
• As a guerrilla force grows bigger, surgical support becomes operations is ideal.
more required. • Create false trails and confuse enemy tracking dogs by us-
• Some cases need out-of-theater evacuation. ing amputated body parts.
• Widely separate hospital wards by at least 5 hours on foot.
• Use only smokeless charcoal fires. Underground Hospital Rules of the
• If the situation is unsure, issue dry food only; no cooking. Yugoslav Partisans
• Fell timber at least 2 hours on foot from the site of use.
• Disperse patients in danger areas. In Yugoslavia, the mountainous terrain and the deep snowfall
• Forbid people from going outside the hospital. lent itself to the development of snow-covered, underground
• Cache all medical supplies not required for daily use. partisan facilities, which Tito’s surgeon, Colonel Dragić, later
• Use well-organized early-warning systems. published in his book. Tito’s guerrillas developed the follow-
• Use designated tactical units to provide hospital security. ing illustrative standing order on hospital rules and actions for
• Prepare underground hideouts early for patients. secret underground hospitals.
• Continuously update evacuation drills.
• Conduct weekly staff briefings on evacuation plans. Headquarters, Third Zone of Operations,
• Brief all new patients upon hospital arrival. 29 May 1944
• Keep medical supplies packed in “go bags” at all times. 1. The responsible person (in) charge of each bunker
• Admit sick and wounded only through secret contact is the male or female orderly.
points. 2. The sick and wounded must obey all orders issued
• Admit sick and wounded to hospital only at night. by the responsible hospital orderly.
• Transport sick and wounded blindfolded during the day. 3. The orderlies may not open the entrance to the
• The discharge net must be different from the admissions net. bunker until they are informed by contact that the
• Observe strict security during transport of patients. enemy has withdrawn.
• Observe strict security when collecting food. 4. The sick and wounded must, under no circum-
• Heavily camouflage access roads, trails, and hospitals. stances whatever open the entrance to the bunker
• Use code names for hospitals, villages, checkpoints, and by themselves.
landmarks. 5. The sick and wounded cannot leave the bunker by
• Avoid smoke from cooking during the day. themselves without previously obtaining permis-
• Keep noise to a minimum during hospital construction. sion to do so from the person in charge.
• Forbid all to leave the premises without permission. 6. The male or female orderly in charge is entitled to
• Carefully select reliable medical staff personnel. prevent the opening of the bunker and exit of the
• Do not admit new patients during uncertain situations. patients by all possible means. They must explain
• Disperse less serious cases into small groups. to the comrades the dangers to which they are ex-
• Maintain absolute silence during the day. posing the other comrades who are bedridden. In
• Encourage patients to sleep during the day. case a patient should fail to obey the rules in spite
• Change paths to and from the hospital to avoid making of the orderly’s reprimand (by attempt to leave the
visible trails. bunker, make noise disturb peace and order), thus
• Cover windows on sunny days to avoid reflecting sunlight. endangering the lives of the other comrades, the
• Only perform outpatient treatment in clinics far removed orderly is entitled to shoot him on the spot. Re-
from hospital. course to this measure is taken only in cases when
• Only see patients in hospital who require in-patient care. there is really no other way of preventing the pa-
• Ensure hospitals maintain close contact with nearest tac- tient from disrupting peace and secrecy. Patients
tical unit. with high temperatures who are delirious are of
• Use nearest tactical unit to get current intelligence. course an exception. Such patients should be gen-
• Use nearest tactical unit to provide protection during pa- tly quietened, and if there is no other way out, tied
tient evacuation. to their bunk and gagged, leaving the nose free.

32 | JSOM Volume 18, Edition 4 / Winter 2018