Florence Farmborough, July 27, 1916 (14th on the Russian calendar), at the bedside of a young dying officer

Florence Farmborough, Imperial War Museum Q 107169

Florence Farmborough was a British nurse who worked on the Eastern Front with the Russian Army. The following is the July 14 (the 27th on the western calendar) entry from her diaries, published as With the Armies of the Tsar: A Nurse at the Russian Front, 1914-1918.  

"Yesterday, something happened which touched me deeply. Among the few wounded brought to us in the morning was a young officer of the Vyatski Regiment. We were exceedingly proud of this regiment; it had fought so long and so valiantly, and several of its wounded had passed through our hands. This young officer was found to be severely wounded in both legs. One leg demanded immediate amputation; the wound was jagged and torn and fragments of rusty metal were extracted from the swollen, discoloured flesh. The leg was amputated high above the knee. Our suirgeons were very worried, and the ominous word 'gangrene' was bandied from mouth to mouth. 'We might have saved him had they brought him here 24 hours earlier' said one of them ruefully. But those 24 hours had been spent on the cold, muddy earth, near the enemy's wire defenses. He was placed on a narrow bed in a small, empty room. Smirnov and I kept vigil at his bedside. His wandering mind was often on the battlefield, leading his men to victory, and, in a frenzy of patriotic fervour, he would swing himself from side to side and his strong arms would pound the air, while Smirnov and another stalwart orderly would seek to prevent him from crashing on to the floor. We knew that he could not last another day; the first stage or mortification was well-advanced. The terrible odour of putrefaction which accompanies that form of gangrene was harassing us desperately, but we knew that it would not be for long. Before Death came to release him, he became calmer -- he was back at home, among those whom he loved. Suddenly he seized my arm and cried, 'I knew that you would come! Elena, little dove, I knew that you would come! Kiss me, Elena, kiss me!' I realised that in his delirium he had mistaken me for the girl he loved. I bent and kissed his damp, hot face, and he became more tranquil. Death claimed him while he was still in a state of tranquility. How I longed to be able to tell that unknown Elena that her unseen presence had helped him to die in peace."

Russian officers with their men

(via The History Place) 

Excerpt from pages 211-212 of With the Armies of the Tsar by Florence Farmborough