The Wounded & Prisoners
Read our amazing selection of images and articles on the wounded and prisoners during the First World War, from field ambulance work and prisoners in Germany to the Japanese hospital in Paris. Plus, download a selection of extra wartime articles from our archive for free.

With only a limited opportunity to comment on action at the Front, Country Life made care of the wounded and arrangements for prisoners particular themes of its wartime coverage. Encouraged to think imaginatively about their patriotic contribution, readers were urged to convert motors to ambulances and to make lavender bags.
ARCHIVE ARTICLES
FIELD AMBULANCE WORK ON GALLIPOLI
SUMMER DAYS IN A WAR HOSPITAL GERMAN PRISONERS IN FRANCE THE JAPANESE HOSPITAL IN PARIS PRISONERS IN GERMANY ROEHAMPTON HOUSE AS A HOSPITAL WITH A MOTOR AMBULANCE IN FRANCE
This photograph was published in June 1917 to accompany an article about life in a suburban war hospital.
From the letters pages in 1915: three wounded soldiers playing golf at St. Leonard's house outside Edinburgh. The men to either side - Corporal Parker and Rifleman Gould - lost legs on the same day at Neuve Chapelle. Corporal Parkinson, in the centre, was wounded at Aisne.
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In 1915, Country Life reported on a team of three surgeons, 25 nurses, four interpreters, a druggist and a bacteriologist arrived from Tokyo to set up Hôpital Bénévole Japonaise in the Astoria Hotel, on the Champs Elysées in Paris. Here, Professor Shihota conducts an operation.
In December 1916, Country Life reported on the arrangements being made to employ German prisoners on the land. This accompanying photograph, taken at an unidentified site, shows captured soldiers hoeing mangolds.
Hospitals were given extensive coverage in Country Life, This photograph, at a ward in Roehampton House, was published in 1915.
A photograph published in 1916, showing a convoy of Charron ambulances in the service of the French army. It appeared in the motoring column.
This article of 1916 reports on a German book of photographs showing allied prisoners. Captured materials and photographs were occasionally published in the magazine.
Agnes has worked for Country Life in various guises — across print, digital and specialist editorial projects — before finally finding her spiritual home on the Features Desk. A graduate of Central St. Martins College of Art & Design she has worked on luxury titles including GQ and Wallpaper* and has written for Condé Nast Contract Publishing, Horse & Hound, Esquire and The Independent on Sunday. She is currently writing a book about dogs, due to be published by Rizzoli New York in September 2025.
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