Robomb Wounds

The British Medical Journal published an analysis, by Surgeon R. C. Bell, of injuries suffered by 259 robot bomb victims. Chief types:

P: Over 100 had been hit by flying glass. Some had as many as 100 pieces of glass in them--"a problem which has not yet acquired a satisfactory solution." The glass did not usually penetrate very deep, but many cuts contained dirt as well as glass, and removing every splinter was almost impossible. Worst glass injuries were to eyeballs. "A large proportion were received when looking out of windows--a modern version of curiosity killing the cat."

P: Bomb splinters hit only 24 and were not as severe as expected; almost none penetrated to body cavities. Most bomb pieces were only "about the size of a halfpenny" and traveled at low speed. But "occasionally the bomb fragments are large, tangled masses of crumpled sheeting weighing a pound or more."

P: There were unexpectedly few injuries from masonry (52), blast (26), burns (9).

P: Seventeen had serious dust injury to their eyes, one man died of dust in his respiratory tract, three others were made very ill by it. In addition, at operations for other injuries, "the anesthetist remarked time & time again on the dirt in the pharynx and trachea [throat and windpipe]. Standing out in my memory are two in which the inside of the trachea was quite black and dry with dust. . . . An air-raid warden . . . told me that several of the dead found by his rescue party had been suffocated by dust--the mouth, nose and throat being completely blocked."

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