Doctor Dominique-Jean Larrey
Born: July 8, 1766
Died: May 25, 1842
Place of Birth: Beaudéan, Hautes-Pyrénées
Cause of Death: Illness
| Battle | Unit | Rank |
| Alexandria | Surgeon-in-Chief | Army of the Orient - Chief Surgeon |
| Battle of the Pyramids | Surgeon-in-Chief | Army of the Orient - Chief Surgeon |
| Jaffa | Surgeon-in-Chief | Army of the Orient - Chief Surgeon |
| Acre | Surgeon-in-Chief | Army of the Orient - Chief Surgeon |
| Abukir (1799) | Surgeon-in-Chief | Army of the Orient - Chief Surgeon |
| Ulm | Chief Surgeon | Imperial Guard - Chief Surgeon |
| Austerlitz | Chief Surgeon | Imperial Guard - Chief Surgeon |
| Eylau | Chief Surgeon | Imperial Guard - Chief Surgeon |
| Aspern-Essling | Chief Surgeon | Imperial Guard - Chief Surgeon |
| Wagram | Chief Surgeon | Imperial Guard - Chief Surgeon |
| Smolensk | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Borodino (La Moskowa) | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Maloyaroslavetz | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Berezina | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Lützen | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Dresden | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Leipzig | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Montereau | Surgeon-in-Chief | La Grande Armée - Chief Surgeon |
| Waterloo (Mont St. Jean) | Chief Surgeon | Imperial Guard - Chief Surgeon |
Dr. Larrey is often credited with bringing humanity to the battlefield. Before his arrival on the battlefields of Europe, the wounded were typically left to fend for themselves, resulting in large numbers of deaths that may have been averted. With Enlightment and Revolutionary concepts like the natural rights of man and citizen, it was fast becoming inexcusable to not care for soldiers wounded in the defense of the nation. With thoughts like these but little knowledge of military medicine or how to improve it, some officers supported Larrey and his ideas, and soon his ideas and reform became the de facto standard of the French army. While before Larrey's time some care was given to the wounded, it was usually the wounded's problem, or that of their friends, to transport them to safety and medical help, which clearly could only be conducted after a battle had already been completed, if even then.
Believing that many lives could be saved if they just received medical help sooner, Larrey invented the flying ambulance. Originally a simple horse-drawn cart, Larrey continuously improved on it to make it more mobile and a smoother ride, as too much bumping could cause unnecessary bleeding. In the midst of battle and at risk to themselves, teams of his ambulances would hurry around the battlefield, picking up the wounded whose lives might be saved, and transporting them to the rear of battle where they could be operated upon. While at times his teams would perform first aid right there in the middle of the battle, the most critically wounded were usually retrieved and taken to relative safety before operating on them. This kept the best surgeons safely out of harm's way and able to perform their duties at stations set up specifically for saving lives. Overall, his system of transporting wounded soldiers away from the battlefield significantly reduced death rates, as almost all critically wounded soldiers were operated on within 24 hours, oftentimes before the battle was even over.
Dr. Larrey's system had another effect in that it greatly improved the morale of French soldiers. Knowing that even if they were severely wounded they stood a much higher chance of living, soldiers were that much more willing to risk their personal safety. Whereas across time on the battlefield wounded soldiers have called out to God or their mothers for help, Larrey's renown grew so great that wounded soldiers would call out his name, hoping that his ambulances would rescue them and he could save their lives.
It is not a giant leap to say that the modern day ambulance is a direct evolution of Larrey's original military flying ambulance. The concept of sending a transportation vehicle with trained staff to stabilize and pick up a patient, and then transporting the patient to a location where skilled doctors with all the necessary equipment were waiting and ready to operate, was Larrey's. So effective was this model of saving lives, that it began to be used in non-military hospitals, and is used in hospitals throughout the world today.
Dr. Larrey led another significant revolution in the medical community, that amputations should be performed as soon as possible. Previously, contemporary medicine had held that amputations should be performed days or weeks after the wound, in the hopes that it would partially heal and make the individual more likely to survive. Larrey argued against this and performed immediate amputations on the battlefield and off, and became so good at it that he could perform an amputation in one to two minutes. As his patients had higher survival rates, the rest of the medical community began to realize the validity of his ideas.
Believing in the ideals of the Revolution, Larrey led a group of medical students and took part in the storming of the Bastille.
At one battle in 1793, a group of French soldiers began to run away from the battle. Larrey drew his sword and charged after them, yelling at them for so cowardly leaving their comrades to fight while they ran, and this act convinced them to return to the battle. Later during the same battle, seeing four wounded soldiers being stripped of valuables by the Prussians, Larrey led a charge of his dragoon escort against the Prussians, and rescued the soldiers. The wounded were loaded into his ambulances and escorted to the rear, where he operated on them and saved all their lives.
Larrey served as Surgeon-in-Chief on the Expedition to Egypt. As the army first disembarked west of Alexandria, General Maximillien Cafffarelli du Falga unfortunately got his wooden leg caught in the rigging and fell overboard. Larrey immediately dove into the water after him, and drug him to the beach, saving his life.
During the Battle of the Pyramids, as during all times, Larrey was willing to treat enemy wounded. One wounded mameluke came to the French for help, and Larrey treated his wound. Thankful, the man gave Larrey a brilliant ruby ring, which he wore until it was taken from him at Waterloo.
Some English prisoners had been taken in Egypt when a ship ran aground, and Larrey considered their condition in prison to be deplorable. When the governor, General Dupas, refused to improve their conditions, Larrey went directly to General Bonaparte. General Bonaparte allowed for these men to be returned to the English on the grounds that they had not directly fought the French.
One evening in Egypt, senior officers including General Bonaparte and Dr. Larrey were invited to General Verdier's quarters for a dinner. As everyone but Larrey had arrived, Madame Verdier began to signal that dinner would be served, as it would be rude to keep General Bonaparte waiting. Napoleon insisted that dinner not start without Larrey, to which the Verdiers replied that Larrey was at the hospital and no one knew when his work would be completed. Bonaparte continued to insist that they wait for him, and the dinner finally went ahead when Larrey arrived an hour later.
At Jaffa, one day an Egyptian entertainer who was caught in a skirmish came to the temporary French hospital for treatment. After treating him, Larrey noticed his pet monkey, the man's companion and his livelihood, was also wounded and he offered to patch it up. Tears streaming down his face from happiness at this unexpected gentleness and generosity, the man accepted and held the monkey while Larrey bandaged it up. The monkey returned many times to have its bandages replaced, and each time would run up and hug Larrey.
Later at Acre, Arrighi de Casanova arrived at the front only to be hit by a ball that passed through his neck. Blood splurting everywhere, he fell to the ground, and a soldier rushed to him and put a finger in each hole on the sides of his neck, slowing the bleeding. Dr. Larrey was called for, and he quickly applied bandages while ignoring the shots falling all around them, saving Arrighi de Casanova's life. Larrey didn't even bother to look up from his patient when his hat was shot off.
As the army of Egypt retreated from the failure of Acre to Cairo, a group of surgeons left in Cairo asked a man wearing a brass helmet and scarlet shawl if he had news of their Surgeon-in-Chief, for they had not heard from Larrey. The man informed them that Larrey was farther back, and as the surgeons moved past him to find their leader, the man shouted out to them, "Am I so changed that you don't recognize me?" The man was in fact Larrey, whose uniform was abandoned for being in tatters, and who had become deeply tanned from the sun.
As Napoleon planned to leave Egypt and return to France, Larrey was one of the select few chosen to accompany Napoleon. Larrey informed Napoleon that if Napoleon insisted he would return with him, but in his opinion the army needed him more than the general did. Napoleon accepted Larrey's suggestion, and Larrey stayed in Egypt.
Before Eylau, Caulaincourt attempted to commandeer the building Larrey had set up as a hospital for the Emperor's quarters. Larrey refused to surrender his hospital, and Caulaincourt threatened to go to Napoleon, to which Larrey replied, "Go ahead. He will side with me." When Caulaincourt did go to Napoleon, Napoleon sided with Larrey, prefering that Larrey's work for the wounded take priority over his own comfort.
During the Battle of Eylau, the Russian attack on the French left flank almost overran Larrey's hospital. As French soldiers reeled back from the Russian onslaught, Larrey calmly finished the operation he was performing and announced that he would die with his casualties if need be. That very morning Larrey had assisted General Lepic with his arthritis so he could fight, and it was lucky that he had done so. As the French soldiers reeled back, Lepic's cavalry rode to the rescue with a succesful counterattack, driving the Russians back and keeping the hospital out of harm's way.
A colonel badly wounded at Eylau had to have his leg amputated, but as Larrey attempted to perform the operation, the man's leg would not stop shaking from his fear of the operation. Larrey slapped him in the face, and the officer demanded satisfaction for such an insult to his honor. As the man angrily spoke of honor, Larrey performed the operation, then apologized and explained that he knew the affront to the man's honor would cause him to forget the operation for a moment, all the time Larrey needed to carry out the operation.
As the Emperor and Larrey left Eylau on the 17th, Napoleon noticed that Larrey no longer wore a sword. "You don't have a sword?" Napoleon asked. Larrey explained that his sword was lost during the battle as the Russians had overrun his baggage wagon. Napoleon removed his own sword and held it out to Larrey, telling him, "Here is mine. Accept it as a reminder of the services you rendered me at the Battle of Eylau."
At Aspern-Essling, Larrey personally amputated one of the legs of his good friend Marshal Lannes who he had patched up numerous times before. Despite the emotions of performing such a procedure on a good friend, Larrey carried out the operation successfully, though the wound became infected and Lannes died within a matter of days.
At the crossing of the Berezina, Larrey was unable to bring his ambulances across the bridge, so he repeatedly crossed the bridge, carrying as many medical supplies as he could. As the bridge began to break, panic and a mad stampede erupted. Recognizing Larrey caught in the stampede, one soldier cried out, "Monsieur Larrey must be saved!" and a general cry of, "Save him who has saved us!" was taken up. A group of soldiers pushed their way through the crowds, grabbed Larrey, held him up above themselves, and passed him above themselves to safety.
In the midst of the campaigning in 1813, many young soldiers were showing up with wounds on their hands. Suspecting an attempt to avoid fighting, Napoleon ordered two men from each corps to be shot as an example, and told Larrey to inspect their wounds and determine the individuals whose wounds were clearly self-inflicted. Larrey refused to do so, arguing that there wasn't enough evidence, so the Emperor ordered an inquiry into the wounds. Larrey and the surgeons analyzed the evidence and determined that none of the suspects had self-inflicted wounds. When he told Napoleon, Napoleon was very grateful and thanked Larrey for having the courage to stick to his beliefs, saying, "Happy indeed is a sovereign in having a man like you at his side." Napoleon generously rewarded Larrey for this, for he was very thankful to Larrey for this courage in keeping Napoleon from making the mistake of executing brave and innocent French soldiers.
During the fighting at Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington noticed a surgeon working on the wounded while under fire. Upon asking who it was and learning that it was Larrey, he directed his men to not fire in Larrey's direction and took off his hat in a salute to Larrey. When asked who he was saluting, Wellington pointed at Larrey and explained, "I salute the courage and devotion of an age that is no longer ours."
Retreating from Waterloo, Larrey, his ambulances, and his escort charged through a Prussian unit blocking their path, but Larrey was hit, knocked unconscious, and left for dead. Upon waking, he set off on his own, only to have a Prussian cavalry squadron hunt him down. All alone, he surrendered, but was immediately manhandled and stripped of almost everything on him. They then took Larrey to a Prussian general, who ordered that he be shot. As a Prussian surgeon stepped forward to bandage his wound before his imminent execution, the surgeon recognized Larrey and convinced the general to not execute Larrey. Larrey was sent first to General Bülow, who improved his condition, giving him new clothes and untying his hands, and then sent him on to Blücher. Larrey had previously treated Blücher's son at Dresden, and Blücher treated him with respect and sent word to his wife that he was alive, as the French had thought Larrey was killed in the retreat from Waterloo.
In Napoleon's will, he called Larrey, "the most virtuous man I have ever known." At another time, Napoleon said, "If the Army were to erect a monument of the memory of any one man, it should be that of Larrey. All the wounded are his family."
Larrey was good friends with Desaix, Lannes, Duroc, and Drouot.
Recommended Biography: Larrey: Surgeon to Napoleon's Imperial Guard by Robert Richardson.
Sources: Haythornthwaite (Who Was Who), Richardson (Larrey)
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