dressing station

Caption: British officers outside a captured and well camouflaged German dressing station during the First World War.

The diaries of Private James Cleaves, Helen's grandfather, who served with the 130th from its formation until the end of World War One as a stretcher bearer and regularly manning advanced dressing stations gives an insight into the men and the conditions they were working in.

From trenches to tunnels in the Vosges region - forested hills known as the Forgotten Front - local amateur historians guided us through caves used as dressing stations, generator rooms and command posts, and painted a picture of the claustrophobic savagery where opposing sides tried to reverse-leapfrog each other by tunnelling downwards, then setting off giant mines to blow the enemy to kingdom come.

He spent time in hospitals and field dressing stations to tend to and aid the wounded, also as a patient when misfortune struck him personally.

Wounded civilians and fighters were carried to makeshift dressing stations.

His contribution included staffing and training men to operate horse teams and wagons to pick up wounded soldiers from the field and to bring them back to field dressing stations for initial treatment.

There's something intimate and poignant about flamenco artists asking for aspirin, camouflaging thinning hair, and setting up totemic dolls around their dressing stations. The camera makes no distinction between work and art.

The sub-lieutenant who was with me said: 'You've been briefed where the field dressing stations are.