Dominique Jean, Baron Larrey (1766–1842)
Mémoires de chirurgie militaire, et campagnes de D. J. Larrey
Paris: J. Smith, 1812–17
XI.6.28, ‘Procédé opératoire du Bon. Larrey’

Baron Dominique Jean Larrey led the French medical services at Waterloo. The son of a shoemaker, he initially served as a naval surgeon before joining the Army of the Rhine in 1792. Larrey enjoyed a remarkable career, serving in most of the major campaigns of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His skill, imagination, courage, endurance and humanity distinguished him as one of the leading medical officers of the day. Larrey was greatly admired by Napoleon, who appointed him Surgeon-in-Chief to the Imperial Guard and then Surgeon-in-Chief to the Grande Armée in 1812. Napoleon often referred to Larrey as ‘the soldier’s friend’ and saluted him in his will as ‘the most virtuous man I have ever known.’ This plate illustrating surgery on the upper arm is from a four-volume edition of his memoirs.

Larrey was an expert surgeon and may have been the first successfully to amputate a leg at the hip joint. An advocate of primary amputation, he performed 200 amputations in a 24-hour period following the Battle of Borodino in 1812. His reputation in Britain was enhanced by a total mastectomy he performed upon the novelist Frances Burney (Frances D’Arblay) in 1811. Larrey was perhaps most famous for the invention of ‘flying ambulances’, a mobile military ambulance service employing springed carriages for the more rapid, comfortable evacuation of the wounded. He was the author of seminal works on military surgery and medicine.

The ferocity of the fighting at Waterloo is emphasized by the heavy casualties suffered by the combatants. Their medical services struggled to cope with the huge numbers of wounded, which have been estimated at approximately 35–40,000 men. The wounded received a staged treatment, based upon the severity of their condition. Immediate aid was provided by medical officers who stayed with their units in action, and at posts located in any available shelter a little behind the front line, where wounds were dressed and tourniquets applied to staunch bleeding. The most serious cases, including those requiring surgery, would be sent further back to larger field hospitals. The numbers of men and ambulances available for the evacuation of casualties were inadequate. Many of those unable to walk or drag themselves to the rear often waited hours and even days before they received attention, suffering from shock, blood loss and exposure. This was the fate of many of the French wounded, who were left untreated on the field following Napoleon’s retreat.

Larrey himself was wounded at Waterloo, and captured by the Prussians, who initially mistook him for Napoleon. He narrowly escaped summary execution before being recognized and taken to Blücher. He was well cared for, since he had treated the Prussian commander’s wounded son in 1813. After he had recovered, Larrey travelled to Louvain and then to Brussels, where he tended the French wounded.