Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
A Mobile Army Surgical Hospital ( MASH ) was a surgical field hospital of the US Army , which was set up near the front in order to be able to provide medical care to soldiers quickly.
history
All MASH units provided space for ten doctors, about twelve nurses, 200 other members of the army and 200 patients. In these camps there were surgeons who cared for wounded soldiers under the most severe conditions. The special type of MASH camps was developed after the Second World War and was mainly used in the Korean War (1950–1953).
Because these hospitals could be dismantled very quickly and rebuilt elsewhere, they could follow the course of the front (some units changed positions dozens of times during the Korean War). Because of this, the wounded were cared for very quickly in the vicinity of the front with short transport routes, which considerably improved the success rate during treatment.
In the early 1990s, Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (502nd MASH and 212th MASH) were also used in Zagreb during the Yugoslav Wars .
On February 16, 2006, the last MASH unit was decommissioned. Combat Support Hospitals replace the previous MASH units.
Receptions in culture
The MASHs became particularly well known through the novel MASH - A Novel About Three Army Doctors by H. Richard Hornberger (published under the pseudonym Richard Hooker ) as well as the resulting fictional film and the later television series , in which the experiences in a fictional hospital during the Korean War be told in a critical way and with black humor.
